Let me preface this with the fact that I am not a cardiologist. A close friend of mine had a heart attack recently and I learned this information after attending a conference. It shocked me enough to want to share it with everyone.
If you are concerned about your vascular health, look into getting an ultrasound of your carotid artery (in your neck.) This can tell you if you have plaque buildup within your arterial walls which a stress test cannot. This is a great test for detecting early stages of plaque buildup.
A stress test can tell you two things.
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You have significant coronary artery blockage (an artery that supplies blood to the muscles of your heart.) It does not tell you if you have a blockage less than 70%... You can still have a heart attack if a smaller blockage of less than 70% ruptures and you throw a clot.
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You do not have significant coronary artery blockage.
There are false alarms if you have an abnormal result, but a stress test is great at identifying late stages of coronary artery blockage.
If there is any experts out there who would like to give some additional advice, please share!
