The Heart Foundation has kicked off a national heart disease awareness campaign with the launch of its Heart Age Calculator (HAC) – an online tool that helps people understand their risk of heart attack or stroke by comparing their ‘heart age’ to their actual age.
The HAC is designed for Australians aged 35 to 75 years who don’t have a “known history” of heart issues and determines your heart’s age through questions about age, sex, smoking and diabetes status, blood pressure levels, medications, cholesterol and family medical history.
Given one in five Australians aged 45 to 74 has a moderate to high risk for heart attack in the next five years, it could be the first step to avoiding a heart attack or stroke.
A note: taking the HAC does not replace the need to see your doctor for a Heart Health Check. If you have a heart age score higher than your own, make an appointment with your GP.
You can take the Heart Age test here.
