More than one million Americans have heart attacks and about a half million people die from heart disease every year. Like age and gender, heredity is an unchangeable factor regarding heart disease.

It is important to understand how to be screened for heart disease.  Some risks include things that are out of your control, such as a strong family history of heart disease. A strong family history is considered to be a heart attack or stroke in a father or brother before age 55 or in a mother or sister before age 65.

Knowing your family health history is necessary to understand your risk of heart disease. If you have a high family history of heart disease, you have to work even harder to lower the changeable risk factors, such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diet and exercise.