Final answer:
Cardiovascular diseases are influenced by unmodifiable risk factors such as age, genetics, and gender, as well as modifiable factors like diet, smoking, exercise, and alcohol consumption. Conditions like obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol also enhance the risk but can be managed or improved through healthy lifestyle changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The factors that contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) can be divided into those that are unmodifiable and those that are modifiable. Unmodifiable risk factors include age, genetics, and gender, with older age and family history being significant precursors to cardiovascular disease and men being generally more at risk than women at earlier ages. Modifiable risk factors include lifestyle choices such as unhealthy diet, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol consumption. Medical conditions like obesity, diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), and high blood cholesterol levels also greatly increase the risk of CVD. Adopting healthy behaviors can mitigate many of these risk factors to prevent or control cardiovascular diseases.