Free Coronary Heart Disease Risk Assessment Calculator

(Health and Fitness), Private MD Lab Services, Atlanta, announced a new, free service to help Americans assess their risk of high cholesterol and heart disease. The Coronary Heart Disease 10-year Risk Assessment Calculator does exactly what its name suggests: By visiting the company's website and entering a few bits of information about themselves and their health, individuals can instantly know their risk of contracting coronary heart disease within the next 10 years.

According to the National Institutes of Health's National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) - which provided the underlying data used by the Calculator - major risk factors for high cholesterol and heart disease include:

• Cigarette smoking
• High blood pressure
• Low HDL (or "good") cholesterol
• Family history of coronary heart disease
• Age (men 45 or older, women 55 or older)

But having one or more of the risk factors doesn't mean a person is doomed: there's hope. The NCEP lists a number of therapeutic lifestyle changes that can decrease one's chances of contracting coronary heart disease, including:

• Reducing saturated fats and cholesterol consumed
• Losing weight
• Increasing physical activity
• Considering drug therapy (over-the-counter or prescription cholesterol-lowering drugs)

By visiting the company's website, http://www.privatemdlabs.com/heart_disease_assessment.php, and entering a few bits of information about themselves and their health, individuals can instantly know their risk of contracting coronary heart disease within the next 10 years.