Heart disease continues to be the number one killer in the United States. Because of that, billions of dollars are spent every year on medications that reduce your risk of disease and death. Compounding this problem, many of the risk factors for heart disease seem “baked into the cake”. Genetic factors can have a huge impact on people’s risk, and those factors are almost always outside of one’s control.
Because of this, there are some who feel a certain amount of powerlessness to prevent heart disease. Recent research contradicts this, though, and should give us all renewed hope. That’s the topic of this week’s Healthcare Triage.
This episode was adapted from a column I wrote for the Upshot. Links to further reading and sources can be found there.
