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Diabetes. Heart problems are the leading cause of death among people with diabetes, especially in the case of adult-onset or Type 2 diabetes (also known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes). Certain racial and ethnic groups (African Americans, Hispanics, Asian and Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans) have a greater risk of developing diabetes. The American Heart Association estimates that 65% of patients with diabetes die of some form of cardiovascular disease. If you know that you have diabetes, you should already be under a doctor's care, because good control of blood sugar levels can reduce your risk. If you think you may have diabetes but are not sure, see your doctor for tests.

Sex. Overall, more men have heart attacks than women do, and they experience them earlier in life, too. While a woman's risk of dying from heart disease increases after menopause, it's still lower than a man's. Your race. Somewhat related to family history, your race can also predetermine part of your risk of heart disease. African Americans, American Indians, Mexican Americans, and native Hawaiians are more likely to have heart disease than Caucasians, but this is partly due to other risk factors that these populations tend to experience, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Body type. Whether or not you become overweight or obese is mostly within your control, but you cannot control your weight distribution, which refers to where your body stores fat. For years, experts warned that people who tend to carry excess weight in their belly area (known as "apple" shapes) are at a greater risk of several health problems, including heart disease, while "pear" shaped bodies that store more fat in the lower body don't have the same risk. However, one 2010 study published in The Lancet dispelled that idea, saying that being overweight (regardless of where your body stores the fat) is a heart disease risk factor. Your genetics determine your body type; if you are apple-shaped now, you will always be apple-shaped, even if you lose weight. Still, maintaining a healthy body weight - which would decrease your waist circumference - is a controllable risk factor (more on that below) that can reduce your heart disease risk.

Drinking habits. Drinking too much - and possibly too little - seems to increase one's risk of heart disease. People who drink moderately (defined as an average of one drink day for women and two drinks daily for men) have a lower risk of heart disease than nondrinkers. However, the AHA does not recommend that teetotalers start drinking (or that drinkers increase the amount they drink) in order to achieve these purported benefits. Drinking too much has far more risks than not drinking. Too much alcohol can raise blood pressure and triglycerides, as well as contribute to obesity, irregular heartbeat, cardiomyopathy, alcoholism, heart failure, cancer, stroke and other diseases. To protect your heart, cut back on drinking; if you don't drink often - or at all - don't start.

Bibliography

American Heart Association website. Available at: http://www.americanheart.org . Accessed August 14, 2008.

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute website. Available at: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/ .

Mayo Clinic website. Available at: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-attack-symptoms/HB00054 . Accessed January 23, 2007.

Huffington Post. "Is the Apple or Pear-Shaped Body Type More Dangerous?," accessed March 2011. www.huffingtonpost.com.

National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. "Coronary Heart Disease Risk Factors," accessed March 2011. www.nhlbi.nih.gov.

WebMD. "Risk Factors for Heart Disease," accessed March 2011. www.webmd.com.