Risk Factors for Coronary Artery Disease

Two of the main risk factors for getting CAD are aging and being male. Women tend to get heart disease later than men do. It is thought that female hormones help protect women from heart disease before menopause. After menopause, women have heart disease as often as men do.

Other things that raise your chances of heart disease include:

• high cholesterol levels
• high blood pressure
• diabetes
• a diet too high in saturated fat
• being overweight
• not exercising
• too much stress
• smoking
• having close relatives with heart disease at younger ages