| This week, Taylor Swift announced her 12th studio album – The Life of a Showgirl – on boyfriend Travis Kelce’s podcast. In her two-hour-long appearance, she also provided surprising details into her dad’s quintuple bypass surgery over the summer. Swift said her father, Scott, for years had normal EKG exams, an electrocardiogram that measures the rhythm and function of your heart in about 10 seconds. But an EKG may not always be sufficient, especially if there is concern about blockages in a patient’s heart, says Luke Laffin, a Cleveland Clinic cardiologist. Scott Swift ended up taking a stress test where doctors discovered abnormalities. He had to undergo emergency heart surgery. A stress test tracks how well your heart pumps. Vitals are first taken at rest, then while walking on a treadmill or riding a stationary bicycle, or after injecting a medication to increase the heart rate. The workout intensity increases until your heart rate reaches a peak, then you slowly cool off, according to the Cleveland Clinic. By checking blood flow under different conditions, doctors can identify possible blockages. Laffin says a stress test can provide a more complete picture of your heart before physicians decide on whether to surgically fix blockages with stents or a heart bypass. Most doctors don’t recommend routine stress tests because they can give false positives and may not pick up on blockages below 70%. “No prediction or test is perfect,” says Beth Abramson, a cardiologist at Unity Health in Toronto. Physicians typically opt for a stress test when a patient is already showing symptoms of heart disease or experiencing shortness of breath, an irregular heartbeat or feeling dizzy. Patients should talk to their doctor about risk factors like high blood pressure, obesity and high cholesterol. “Understanding one's cardiovascular risk should start now,” Laffin says. “It doesn't matter what age.” Taylor Swift raised an important issue on the podcast – heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One person dies from heart disease every 34 seconds. People can take care of their hearts by incorporating some daily exercise and eating well, according to Abramson. “Heart disease can be prevented and can be treated,” she says. I’ll be walking and listening to Taylor’s music to get ready for her new album later this fall. – Jessica Nix | 
