Your heart health will be determined by a combination of two important factors: What you can’t control — your genetic makeup, inherited from your parents, including medical conditions that can contribute to heart disease, such as diabetes. You may inherit an undesirable predisposition, such as a tendency to have high cholesterol levels. What you can control — factors that are known to contribute to heart disease, such as smoking, poor diet, and lack of exercise. Any family history of heart disease may increase your likelihood of having heart disease. If you have a significant genetic predisposition, we’ll pay close attention to key indicators, such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.