Current evidence suggests that most significant risk factors for heart disease have been
identified. Although age, sex, and genetics are important unmodifiable risk factors, most new
cases of acute myocardial infarctions today can be predicted by the presence and level of 9
risk (or cardioprotective) factors that can easily be assessed and, most importantly, modified.
These risk factors are the same in almost every geographic region and in every racial/ethnic
group worldwide and are consistent in men and women. Eight of these 9 risk factors are …