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Heart disease continues to rank as the leading cause of death in both men and women. It’s responsible for one in five deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By catching heart disease early, you can protect your heart health and prevent damage to your quality of life and longevity.

Early detection of cardiovascular disease is crucial to protecting heart health. That means knowing what doctors look for — early signs, risk factors, and how heart disease feels (i.e., symptoms).

Risks of Cardiovascular Disease

Heart disease is one of several types of cardiovascular disease, the umbrella term for conditions that affect the heart or blood vessels. Heart disease includes several conditions that affect the heart’s structure and function.

Atherosclerosis, when a sticky substance called plaque builds up in your arteries, causes many heart disease problems. Coronary artery disease (CAD), sometimes called coronary heart disease, is when plaque builds up in the arteries in your heart. CAD can reduce blood flow to your heart, increasing your risk of heart attack.

Cardiovascular disease causes one out of every three deaths in the United States each year. That’s according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Other cardiovascular health conditions include:

• Arrhythmia, also called heart rhythm problems.
• Heart attack, also called myocardial infarction.
• Heart failure, also called congestive heart failure.
• Heart valve problems, including mitral valve disease.
• Stroke.

Heart Health Screenings

Through heart health screenings, doctors check for signs of early heart and cardiovascular disease. The American Heart Association recommends:

• A blood glucose test at least every three years.
• A blood pressure reading at every annual checkup.
• Cholesterol blood tests every four to six years for those at average risk. Your doctor may recommend you take these more often if you have risk factors for heart disease.
• Weight measurement at every checkup.
• Waist circumference measurement as needed if your BMI is equal to or higher than 25 kilograms per square meter (kg/m²).

Signs of heart disease

Early warning signs of heart disease include:

• Diabetes.
• High blood pressure.
• High low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol) and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol).

These signs of heart disease are risk factors. That means if you have one or more of them, you are at an increased risk of having heart disease.

Risk factors for heart disease

Other risk factors for heart disease include:

• Excessive alcohol use.
• Family history of heart disease.
• Joint pain.
• Physical inactivity or a sedentary lifestyle.
• Overweight and obesity.
• Sleep apnea.
• Smoking
• Unhealthy diet.

In men, erectile dysfunction may sometimes serve as an early sign of heart disease, according to the American Heart Association.

Cardiovascular Disease Symptoms

Cardiovascular disease can affect how you feel, though not at first. You may not feel symptoms when heart disease is in its early stages. It can remain “silent” until your heart disease or other cardiovascular condition gets worse.

Different cardiovascular conditions can cause different symptoms. Some of the most common include:

Arrhythmia symptoms

Arrhythmia occurs when the heart does not pump enough blood to the body, causing an irregular heart rate or rhythm.

The most common symptoms are heart palpitations, which feel like your heart is fluttering, pounding, or skipping a beat.

Other common symptoms of arrhythmia include:

• Anxiety.
• Chest pain or discomfort.
• Confusion.
• Difficulty breathing or gasping during sleep.
• Dizziness and fainting.
• Tiredness.
• Weakness.

It’s normal for your heart rate to speed up or slow down during different activities, and sometimes, you skip a beat. But if this happens often, it’s an early warning sign.

Heart attack symptoms

A heart attack happens when part of your heart muscle doesn’t get enough blood. A heart attack can lead to cardiac arrest. Most heart attack symptoms are the same for men and women.

Chest pain or discomfort in the center or left side of your chest is the most common symptom of a heart attack. It can feel like fullness, pressure, tightness or squeezing. These symptoms can last for more than a few minutes or go away and come back.

Other heart attack symptoms include:

• Breaking into a cold sweat.
• Discomfort or pain in one or both arms and shoulders.
• Discomfort or pain in the back, jaw, and neck.
• Feeling faint, lightheaded, or weak.
• Shortness of breath, either before or with chest pain and discomfort.

For many women, heart attack symptoms can feel different. Often, women may confuse these symptoms for another condition, such as a stomach virus. Women need to keep these symptoms in mind to protect their heart health.

Common heart attack symptoms in women include:

• Nausea or vomiting.
• Lightheadedness.
• Unusual or unexplained tiredness.

Heart failure symptoms

Heart failure occurs when the heart can’t pump enough blood and oxygen to other parts of the body. It doesn’t mean the heart has stopped beating.

Common heart failure symptoms include:

• Feeling tired or weak.
• Shortness of breath during daily activities or even upon rest.
• Swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, and stomach.
• Trouble breathing when lying down.
• Unexplained weight gain.

When to See Your Doctor or Get Emergency Help

If you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911. The longer you wait to get treated, the more damage to your heart muscle and the greater your risk of death.

Tell your doctor about your ongoing heart palpitations or cardiovascular disease symptoms. They can treat arrhythmia with medicine or with special procedures. They can also treat heart failure with medicine, lifestyle changes, and surgery if necessary.

Left untreated, arrhythmia can damage your brain, heart, and other organs, leading to stroke, cardiac arrest, or heart failure. Cardiac arrest happens when your heart suddenly stops beating. To prevent death, your heart needs to get restarted in minutes — either through CPR or an automatic external defibrillator (AED).

Heart Disease Prevention

Preventing heart disease is possible through lifestyle changes. To lower your risk:

• Avoid or limit alcohol. That means no more than one standard alcoholic drink per day for women and no more than two for men.
• Get regular physical activity. Aim for at least 150 minutes total of moderate-intensity aerobic activity each week.
• Follow a heart-healthy diet. Heart-healthy foods are fresh, whole foods that are lower in cholesterol, fat, and sodium and higher in fiber. For heart health, the AHA recommends the Mediterranean diet or DASH diet.
• Quit smoking.

Prevention may also include taking medicine to lower cholesterol or control blood pressure. Your doctor or primary care professional can help you develop a plan to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Editor's Note: This article was originally published on May 19, 2025, and was last reviewed on June 11, 2025.