What Are the Risk Factors of a Heart Attack in Teens?

Heart attack is not generally associated with teenagers, since most people who have heart attacks are middle-aged or older. Although cardiac events or death among adolescents are rare, the risk factors in teens and adults are largely the same.

Congenital Defects

• Congenital heart defects can cause heart attack in teens. As of 2002, the American Heart Association estimated between 650,000 and 1.3 million Americans have some type of congenital heart defect. Each year, 36,000 children are born with some type of heart defect.

Smoking

• The CDC reports that three million teens are regular smokers, even though they are not old enough to legally purchase tobacco products. An estimated 4,000 more start smoking every day.

Obesity

• Obesity in children in adolescence is defined at being at or over the 95th percentile on the BMI index on the CDC growth charts. In 2006, the CDC reported that nearly 10 million children and adolescents were classified as obese.

High Blood Pressure

• Although just three percent of children in the United States have high blood pressure, it is still a very serious condition in childhood and can lead to heart disease in childhood if untreated.

Heredity

• Family history of heart attacks and heart disease early in life make teenagers predisposed to suffer these conditions earlier than they might otherwise.

Drug Use

• The use of illegal drugs is another common cause for heart attacks in teenagers. The drug that most often produces a heart attack or other cardiac event, such as a stroke, is cocaine. A 2008 survey conducted by the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that 7.2 percent of high school seniors had tried cocaine.