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Introduction

Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of death in the UK and Australia. One in three men and one in four women die from heart disease. Minimising the risk should be a priority for everyone. The Dundee Ranking System will give you an indication of your risk of developing heart disease for your age plus a selection of modifiable risk factors such as blood pressure and cholesterol plus whether you smoke or are a diabetic.

This equation does not consider all of the risk factors for heart disease. When evaluating your total risk, family history, activity levels, LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, stress and body weight should be considered. The Dundee Rank gives an indication of your risk of a majory coronary event. It is based on factors within your control, i.e. smoking, cholesterol and blood pressure. The rank can be viewed as a queue of 100 people. A person with rank 100 would be last in the queue for a coronary event and least at risk, while a rank of 1 would be at the front of the queue. This is one of those rare ocassions it's best to be at the end of the queue.