Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.....
This is a tool we use on occasion in our pharmacies, with some explanation about context, when preople present to quit smoking using NRT.
Cardio-vascular risk science continues to develop, and the New Zealand National Heart Foundation have a cool web tool for estimating your cardiac risk. The link is below and worth having a look at, given the following :-
1. you can mess around with the data entry to see how being smoke free improves your cardiac risk dramatically. ie enter your information as a smoker, and as a non-smoker. This graphically dipslays the vast gains made by quitting smoking
2. if you know some of your " health numbers " eg blood pressure, cholesterol etc , the tool gives a useful estimation of your 5 year risk of a cardiac event
3. my proviso is that if using this tool creates concern or questions for you, that you should consult your medical practitioner for interpretation of the results ( or you can feel free to contact us for some ( albeit limited ) assistance). The introduction page gives useful context
The introduction page is
here, but if you already know your health information,
click here
This information and links were provided as part of pharmacist CPD ( Continued Professional Development ) training in 2013. A study was also quoted showing the health gains possible from various interventions aimed at reducing CVD risk. Some things we cannot modify ( our genetic or family history of CVD ) but others, such as cholesterol, weight, fitness and smoking status we can. The study clearly demonstrated that stopping smoking gave ( by far ) the greatest gains.