All about proactive heart health testing – a three-part series: Part 1
Part one: How proactive heart screening can add years to your life
Heart health: one of the keys to a long, healthy life
A strong and healthy heart is one of the most important factors contributing to longevity and quality of life.
Unfortunately, cardiovascular disease is also among the most common serious health conditions, with nine in 10 Canadians of any age having at least one risk factor. By age 50, the lifetime risk of developing cardiovascular disease climbs to 51 per cent for men and 32 per cent for women. That risk increases for women after menopause.
The good news is that heart disease like heart attack and stroke are largely preventable. Nearly eight in 10 cases of premature heart disease and stroke can be avoided by making healthier lifestyle choices and by managing risk factors like hypertension, high cholesterol, elevated blood glucose, and sleep apnea. Identifying issues early and taking proactive measures can add years to your life.
Under the radar risks
We expect cardiovascular disease to cause symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath or extreme fatigue – and sometimes it does. But risk factors like high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels or genetic predisposition often don’t have any obvious symptoms.
In a recent Eat, Move, Think podcast episode, Medcan Clinical Director of Cardiology Dr. Beth Abramson says that you often can’t feel symptoms of heart disease until your arteries are dangerously clogged. This means it is possible that your first symptom could actually be a heart attack.
It is especially common to not have noticeable symptoms during the early stages of cardiovascular disease. But this is precisely the time when early interventions can make the most difference in your long-term health outcomes.
Medcan Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Nord says that by the time most people would normally be referred in for cardiac testing, “the horse has left the barn and we’re basically doing damage control.”
Instead, with our series of proactive heart health tests, Medcan is leading the way to help our clients discover red flags earlier and with more accuracy.
How proactive testing helps
Proactive heart health screening, like the tests included in Medcan’s Annual Health Assessment and Enhanced Heart Health Assessment, provides personalized data and insights that serve as a crucial first step in identifying your individual risk factors.
With this information in hand, you and your healthcare team can build a targeted plan to help protect your heart and prevent potentially serious issues before they develop. Your personalized prevention strategy may include medication, regular monitoring, and specific lifestyle changes related to diet, exercise, and stress management.
The latest in advanced screening and research
Research in proactive heart health is evolving rapidly, offering new tools to help prevent cardiovascular disease before symptoms appear.
Medcan continuously reviews—and contributes to—the latest evidence to ensure we’re offering the gold standard in screening. Most recently, Medcan physicians Dr. Peter Nord and Dr. Beth Abramson co-authored a study in the Journal of Cardiology highlighting the value of high-sensitivity troponin (hs-Troponin) testing in identifying cardiovascular risk.
This test has been part of our Annual Health Assessment for years. As Dr. Nord notes, among the 25,000 assessments performed last year, “a number of people were acutely saved by the hs-Troponin test, and we were able to set things in motion that should add many healthy years to their lives.”
a number of people were acutely saved by the hs-Troponin test, and we were able to set things in motion that should add many healthy years to their lives.
The next era of proactive testing
We’ve recently added two new biomarkers to the Annual Health Assessment: Lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] and Apolipoprotein B [ApoB]. While both are considered best practice in proactive heart health screening, they are not yet widely adopted in community medicine, underscoring the need for proactive testing like what Medcan offers.
To learn more, explore the next articles in this series for a deeper look at the advanced heart health tests included in our Annual and Enhanced Assessments. These evidence-based screenings help uncover risk factors and biomarkers that might otherwise go undetected—empowering you to take control of your heart health and your future.
Ready to assess your own health? Take the next step in your proactive health journey and book your next Annual Health Assessment
Interested in learning more? Hear from Dr. Nord and Dr. Abramson as they discuss how heart health screening works and what it can mean for you in our recent podcast episode: