Interactive Tool: How Does Smoking Increase Your Risk of Heart Attack?

What does this tool measure?

Click here to find out how much smoking increases your heart attack risk .

This interactive tool measures how smoking—independent of other risk factors—affects your chance of having a heart attack in the next 10 years. The tool uses the values you enter to calculate your risk. The information is based on the Framingham Heart Study. During the past 50 years, the Framingham Heart Study has studied the progression of heart disease and its risk factors. The data were then developed into a risk assessment by the U.S. National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP), part of the National Institutes of Health.

The values you enter include your age and gender. The tool uses a systolic blood pressure of 120 millimetres of mercury (mm Hg), an HDL cholesterol measurement of 1.41 millimoles per litre (mmol/L), and a total cholesterol measurement of 5.17 mmol/L to calculate your risk based on smoking alone. However, in the real world, smoking would have some additional negative effect on both cholesterol and blood pressure.

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Author:	Douglas Dana Kathe Gallagher, MSW	Last Updated: August 15, 2007
Medical Review:	Martin Gabica, MD - Family Medicine Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine Anne C. Poinier, MD - Internal Medicine Tom Bailey, MD - Family Medicine Stephen Fort, MD, MRCP, FRCPC - Interventional Cardiology
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