That's a very good question because over half of the time, people who suffer from this disease find out by having an irreversible event take place in the form of sudden cardiac death, cardiac arrest or a heart attack with actual damage of heart muscle. In other words, this disease very commonly occurs without symptoms and yet, it's the number one cause of death. The way we make the diagnosis is to use testing in appropriate patient groups, even when there aren't symptoms. That relates to the risk factors for developing coronary disease. The known risk factors for CAD are a positive family history which means a male primary relative getting this disease at under age 55 or a female primary relative under age 65.
Primary relative is mother, father, sister or brother.
The family history risk would be equal to men and women. All risk factors are equal in men and women. People who have one or more of these risk factors would then be candidates for further testing. A common form of testing is stress testing. It takes the form of a treadmill test, often performed in a docotor's office, or a treadmill test in conjunction with imaging.