Things like blood pressure, cholesterol level, obesity and smoking can increase the risk of heart disease, but family history is a big factor too.

“Family history is very important because this can put you at risk for heart disease at an earlier age than we would normally anticipate,” says Stephen Broughton, M.D., an interventional cardiologist with the CHI St. Vincent Heart Institute. “And we will oftentimes want to assess you for risk factors earlier than what the guidelines recommend.”

Be sure to learn your family’s history and discuss it with your doctor. “If you have a family member who developed heart disease in their 40s or even sometimes in their 30s, we want to be a little bit more aggressive with assessing their risk factors and making sure we mitigate them as much as possible,” says Dr. Broughton.

Dr. Broughton also recommends to tell your doctor if anyone in your family has had a heart attack or required heart surgery or a stent at an age earlier than 50.