Heart Screenings Good for Busy Executives

Being an executive is typically a high-pressure job, which can increase risk of stress-related illness. Executives with a family history of heart disease are at even higher risk of cardiological problems. That makes regular heart screenings all the more important for such individuals.

The Executive Health Assessment Program at Kelsey-Seybold provides a personalized risk assessment that, in part, helps patients identify heart disease risk early enough to correct and prevent it.

Exercise stress testing is an important assessment tool, but it has limitations as a screening tool. Stress tests results must be carefully reviewed, as there may be false positive as well as false negative findings.

During the Executive Health Assessment, Kelsey-Seybold physicians use a directed and individualized approach to cardiac screening tests, based on a given patient's risk factors, including family history, diet, stress and physical activity levels, lifestyle factors, lipid profiles, and other lab tests.

For many of our executive patients, a careful medical history and physical exam, supplemented by ECG, is most appropriate. For others, one or more additional tests may be needed. There should be a careful balance between using the right test at the right time to benefit patients, so Kelsey-Seybold uses a high-tech, high-touch approach.