You can now calculate your risk of cardiovascular disease online in just three to five minutes.
The calculator, which was created by researchers at The Ottawa Hospital, uses survey data from more than 100,000 Canadians, obtained from Statistics Canada's health surveys.
This week alone, over 200,000 people have used it.
Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Senior Scientist, Dr. Doug Manuel helped create it.
Dr. Manuel says most people are surprised to learn they are actually doing pretty well.
The calculator assesses healthy living.
You will be asked questions about smoking, alcohol consumption, as well as your age, height and weight.
Once completed, it will let you know what your heart attack risk is for the next five years.
"And it all began because...in my, our clinic, we've got pretty good tools that can estimate, and we do it all the time, with patients. But estimate your risk based on cholesterol and blood pressure...A lot of people they're more interested in what they can do, or the sort of more of the preventive side...So that's why we created it." Dr. Manuel told The Jennifer Campbell Show on 570 NEWS.
He adds they wanted to make it approachable and easy to use.
"I'm hoping it will again, get us all talking about our communities."
"One thing that's neat for me. Now that we make these online, it's easier for you to share it with your friends. If you make a target and you share it with your friends, we know that you're going to more than likely make that goal." said Dr. Manuel.
You can access the calculator here.
with files from Saif Kaisar
