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Stable angina - Prevention

Alternative Names

Angina - stable; Angina - chronic; Angina pectoris

Prevention:

Your doctor may tell you to take nitroglycerin a few minutes in advance if you plan to perform an activity that may trigger angina pain.

The best way to prevent angina is to lower your risk for coronary heart disease:

Control blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol
Lose weight if you are overweight
Stop smoking

Reducing risk factors may prevent the blockages from getting worse, and can make them less severe, which reduces angina pain.

If you have one or more risk factors for heart disease, talk to your doctor about possibly taking aspirin or other medicines to help prevent a heart attack. Aspirin therapy (75 mg - 325 mg a day) or a drug called clopidogrel may help prevent heart attacks in some people.

Heart, front view

Stable angina

Reviewed last on: 7/15/2008
Alan Berger, MD, Assistant Professor, Divisions of Cardiology and Epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Boden WE, O'rourke RA, Teo KK, et al. Optimal Medical Therapy with or without PCI for Stable Coronary Disease. N Engl J Med. 2007 Mar 26; [Epub ahead of print].

Fraker TD Jr, Fihn SD, Gibbons RJ, Abrams J, Chatterjee K, Daley J et al. 2007 chronic angina focused update of the ACC/AHA 2002 Guidelines for the management of patients with chronic stable angina: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines Writing Group to develop the focused update of the 2002 Guidelines for the management of patients with chronic stable angina. Circulation. 2007;116:2762-2772.

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