The good news is that it has become one of the most carefully studied health problems. More is known about the causes and prevention of heart attacks than most other diseases that kill us. That is truly good news, since what has been learned allows us to assess the risks brought about by our lifestyle and to know what we can do to reduce these risks of dying of heart disease.
Risk factors are odds, something like the chances of winning at a casino.
Occasionally someone beats the odds and comes home with a bundle, some others lose every time, but for almost everyone else the odds continue much as predicted. There are some risk factors you're stuck with. You can't change the genes your parents gave you. Your family's tendency toward heart disease is evaluated from the men who had a heart attack before age 55 and women before 65. These are considered premature heart attacks, and may reflect a genetically linked risk.