About Your HEART NUMBERS

Your heart numbers are two of the most important numbers you need to know because they give some insight into how healthy your heart is and the effect that your lifestyle is having on your body.

When you know these numbers, firstly, you can find out what your risk of having a heart attack or stroke is over five years - and secondly and most importantly, this information can be used to create your own Heart Health Plan. By following Your Plan you will be taking steps to reduce your risk, and improve the health of your heart.

What are your numbers?

The numbers you need to know are:

(i) Your Blood Pressure (BP)
(ii) Your Cholesterol Ratio (TC/HDL).

Here's a brief explanation of what each one means.

Your Blood Pressure: Blood Pressure is a measure of how hard your heart has to work to pump blood around your body. There are many factors that affect this, for instance if you have a lot of fat building up in  your artery walls, they can stiffen and narrow so the heart has to work harder to pump blood through your narrower arteries.

A blood pressure reading is always in the form of two numbers, for example 130/80. The top number is the maximum pressure in your arteries when your heart beats and is called the systolic pressure. The bottom number (diastolic pressure) is the pressure in your arteries while your heart is resting between beats. Taken together, these numbers give a very good indication of how hard your heart is having to work to pump blood around your body.

Your Cholesterol Ratio: You may have seen the word 'cholesterol' or heard it used without knowing what it is.  Cholesterol is a type of fat (called a lipid) that is found in your blood. It's actually useful in helping your body function properly, but if there's too much of it in your blood, it can build up in the walls of your arteries, narrowing your arteries and increasing your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

There are three main types of lipids that affect your heart health:

• High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL) - often called good cholesterol because it helps remove cholesterol from your artery walls, reducing your risk of heart disease.
• Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL) - often called bad cholesterol because it deposits cholesterol onto your artery walls, narrowing them and increasing your risk of heart disease.
• Triglycerides: These fats are a storage form of energy for the body. However, high levels of triglycerides are associated with many diseases, including heart disease and stroke.

To find out what your cholesterol levels are you will need a fasting blood test. This will show your TC (total cholesterol), LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Total cholesterol is a rough measure of all the cholesterol and triglycerides in your blood. All of these numbers are important and affect your risk of having a heart attack or stroke.

However for checking your heart risk using the Your Heart Age Forecast, you only need your cholesterol ratio (TC/HDL). This is calculated using your Total Cholesterol (TC) divided by your HDL.

Ideally, your results would look like this:

• Total cholesterol (TC) - Less than 4 mmol/L
• LDL cholesterol - Less than 2.0 mmol/L
• HDL cholesterol - Greater than 1 mmol/L
• TC/HDL ratio - Less than 4.0
• Triglycerides - Less than 1.7 mmol/L

Your  doctor, nurse or health professional  will talk through your cholestrerol level with you and help you set a target level that takes your risk of a heart attack or stroke into account.

How To Get Your Numbers

Ask your GP or practice nurse for a heart health check.  They'll check your blood pressure and will either do a blood test on the spot, or will refer you to a lab to do the blood test, to check your cholesterol levels.

It's important to realise that this is not an instant process. It may take a while for your doctor or nurse to receive your blood test results from the lab.  They will usually call you when they get the results back.

When you get your results, come back to this website and do the Your Heart Age Forecast. Using your real numbers you can create your own Heart Health Plan to help you manage the health of your heart, and to help reduce your risk of heart attack or stroke.

While you're waiting to get your numbers, you can still do the Your Heart Age Forecast (using estimated numbers) and you can sign up for a basic Heart Health Plan.  This way we can chase you up with a reminder email to make sure you've taken the steps to get your real numbers!

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