What factors increase the risk of coronary heart disease and angina

• High cholesterol level
• Smoking
• Obesity (being overweight)
• Lack of regular exercise
• Family history of coronary heart disease
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Stress
• South Asian background

Not every chest pain is angina. If you have chest pain, several tests may be carried out. These include the following.

• Stress exercise tolerance test (ETT)
• Stress echocardiogram
• Thallium test
• Electrocardiogram (ECG)
• Cardiac catheterisation (coronary angiogram)

Many people with angina can lead a fairly normal life for many years by taking certain medication to relieve the symptoms.

The medication can help to relieve symptoms by:

• increasing the blood supply to the heart muscle; and
• reducing the workload on the heart.

Where medication alone does not relieve angina, other forms of treatment may be necessary. You may need to be referred to a cardiologist, and possibly a heart surgeon, for further treatment needed to effectively control the symptoms of angina and, for some people, to prolong life. The treatment may include an angioplasty, a coronary stent or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.