Risk Factors
- Most of the risk factors that affect children can be controlled early in life, lowering the risk of heart disease later in life.
- Other risk factors are usually passed down through family members (they are hereditary) or they are the result of another illness or disease. These risk factors usually can be controlled.
- Congenital heart disease (heart defects you are born with) cannot be changed, but better tests and treatments are now available for children with these types of heart problems.