# Is there an all inclusive list of risk factors (controllable and not controllable) for cardiovascular disease

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-all-inclusive-list-of-risk-factors-controllable-and-not-controllable-for-cardiovascular-disease/1009489>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 31, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-all-inclusive-list-of-risk-factors-controllable-and-not-controllable-for-cardiovascular-disease/1009489 "2024-10-31T03:46:37Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-all-inclusive-list-of-risk-factors-controllable-and-not-controllable-for-cardiovascular-disease/1009489/1 "2024-10-31T03:46:37Z")

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I don’t know if this goes here since its a medical question or if this is a GQ.

I think there are something like 80 risk factors, but when I look online I mostly just see the same handful over and over again. There are the obvious ones like

- high LDL cholesterol
- low HDL cholesterol
- high triglycerides
- obesity
- poor diet
- old age
- hypertension
- AMAB
- smoking
- being sedentary
- excess alcohol use
- family history
- stress
- type 2 diabetes

But there seem like there are a lot of other less well known risk factors too

- sleep apnea
- being non-white
- loneliness
- low socioeconomic status
- air pollution
- gut microbiome
- gingivitis
- various STDs
- vitamin D levels
- magnesium intake
- homocysteine levels
- coffee intake
- waist to height ratio

Is there an exhaustive, all inclusive list anywhere?

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**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-all-inclusive-list-of-risk-factors-controllable-and-not-controllable-for-cardiovascular-disease/1009489/2 "2024-10-31T04:22:57Z")

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Another one: there are many prescription drugs which cause cardiovascular problems:

> **[Risk for Heart Attack, Stroke or Death Can Double or Triple in Older Adults...](https://healthpolicy.usc.edu/article/risk-for-heart-attack-stroke-or-death-can-double-or-triple-in-older-adults-concurrently-taking-multiple-medications-with-cardiovascular-side-effects/)**
>
> Using multiple medications with known cardiovascular adverse effects at the same time substantially increases cardiovascular risk.

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**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\
**Post date:** [October 31, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-all-inclusive-list-of-risk-factors-controllable-and-not-controllable-for-cardiovascular-disease/1009489/3 "2024-10-31T15:36:20Z")

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Beyond that, one of the things I’ve found about this is that there’s no actual published data for the layman giving you relative risk or controllability of many of those things.

I mean, the obvious ones can be summed up as:

- Don’t smoke
- Don’t be fat
- Get Exercise
- Eat lots of vegetables
- Don’t eat a lot of red meat

Those should take care of a lot of the others- microbiome, high triglycerides, nutrient levels, cholesterol (to some extent, anyway).

But just how important is flossing your teeth to heart health? Or what are the variations in innate levels? For example, my cholesterol isn’t really an issue for me, but I know people who are in better shape and (AFAIK) eat about the same as I do, and their LDL cholesterol is like twice mine. There’s some kind of genetic thing going on, and I don’t know how much control anyone has over any of that.