Lipid and Cardiometabolic Care
St. Bernards Longevity Center
What is Longevity Care?
Longevity medicine is an emerging field of science focused on preventing chronic diseases by addressing root causes and slowing the aging process. Our goal isn't simply to help you live longer—it's to extend your health span, the period of life when you remain healthy, active and vibrant. Everyone deserves to feel their best during their final decade of life, with sharp cognitive function and reduced frailty.
Our Approach to Lipid & Cardiometabolic Care
At St. Bernards Longevity Center, we focus on preventing cardiovascular disease and delaying the chronic diseases of aging, including heart attack, stroke, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's disease. The earlier in life you begin a comprehensive preventive care plan, the longer we can delay illness and maintain your quality of life.
Since bone and muscle mass naturally decline with age, we emphasize the importance of life long exercise programs to reduce frailty in later years. Using advanced lipid testing, cardiovascular imaging, and assessing both traditional and non-traditional risk factors, we work with you to develop a personalized treatment plan. Additional testing or genetic analysis may be recommended based on your individual needs.
Our Comprehensive Team Approach
Your care team includes:
Comprehensive Cardiovascular Risk Assessment
We work with you to develop a customized plan to reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke while slowing plaque formation and progression. All findings and treatment recommendations are shared with your primary care provider to ensure coordinated care.
Your Initial Evaluation Includes:
Risk Factor Assessment:
- Detailed family history review
- Blood pressure evaluation
- Age-related risk factors
Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging:
A calcium score or CT coronary scan can reveal plaque formation in your arteries before problems develop. An abnormal CAC score is predictive of future cardiovascular events and helps us prevent them through targeted lifestyle changes including exercise, improved diet and sleep habits, stress management, medications and evidence-based supplements.
Genetic Testing Available:
The Power of Prevention
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in America, often striking without warning. Atherosclerosis silently affects arteries for years, even decades, before a heart attack or stroke occurs. When blood vessels become blocked in the heart or brain, life-threatening events result.
Our treatment plan includes preventing obesity and diabetes which further reduces your risk of cardiovascular disease but also reduces the risk of dementia and certain cancers.
The good news: With successful treatment, you can reduce your chance of heart attack by up to 80%.
Evidence-Based Treatment Options
Our treatment approach is tailored to your individual needs and goals and may include:
- Personalized nutrition plans
- Structured exercise programs
- Targeted medications to reduce cardiovascular disease risk
- Lifestyle optimization including sleep and stress management
- Health coaching for sustainable habit formation
- Pharmacist consultation
You'll receive regular follow-up assessments to ensure treatment goals are met. Our team-based approach includes dedicated health coaches who will work with you to develop individualized exercise and diet plans that fit your lifestyle and a pharmacist to help you with your medications.
Know Your Risk Factors
Do you have any of the following?
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol
- Elevated lipoprotein(a)
- Metabolic syndrome with abdominal obesity
- Insulin resistance
- High triglycerides with low HDL cholesterol
- Family history of heart disease or stroke
- Small, dense LDL particles
- Elevated C-Reactive protein
Aggressively treating these factors can slow or even reverse early disease and prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Who Needs Cardiovascular Prevention?
Everyone. Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of both American men and women. With proper lifestyle changes and medical intervention, heart attacks can be prevented.
Ideal Candidates for St. Bernards Longevity Center
While everyone over age 30 benefits from a healthy lifestyle to prevent cardiovascular disease, these individuals are especially high-risk and excellent candidates for our program:
- Family history of early cardiovascular disease with desire to know personal risk
- Possible Familial Hypercholesterolemia with LDL cholesterol >190 mg/dL not well-controlled on current medications
- Elevated Lipoprotein(a) levels
- High homocysteine levels
- Uncontrolled diabetes with obesity requiring high insulin doses and needing weight loss
- Metabolic syndrome or prediabetes not well-controlled with current treatment
- Severe hypertriglyceridemia (triglycerides >500 mg/dL) with increased pancreatitis risk
- Family history of Alzheimer's disease interested in prevention strategies (with or without APOE4 genotype)
- South Asian ancestry with family history of premature heart attack and/or metabolic syndrome/diabetes
- Rapidly progressive or recurrent cardiovascular disease despite optimal medical treatment
At St. Bernards Longevity Center, we provide proactive rather than reactive care. We believe in meeting you where you are and working together to develop an evidence-based treatment plan that fits your life and goals.
