Cardiovascular Disease And Heart Disease

There are multiple factors that lead to the development cardiovascular disease. While some individuals are born with conditions that predispose them to strokes or heart disease, a majority of people participate in a combination of risk factors that lead to the development of cardiovascular disease. A few of those risk factors include a lack of physical activity, smoking, and poor diet. The more frequently individuals expose themselves to these risk factors the higher their chances of developing cardiovascular disease.

There are other risk factors that affect a person’s chances of developing coronary artery disease such as obesity, high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes, lack of regular exercise, high-fat diet, and emotional stress. These other risk factors are preventable and can be changed with daily exercise, eating healthy options, and making healthy daily choices for your heart and body.

According to the American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease or heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in America. Cardiovascular disease refers to a disease of the heart and/or blood vessels. It is also known as heart disease. The term cardiovascular disease covers many conditions and is extremely dangerous. Atherosclerosis is one of the major conditions that falls under the cardiovascular disease category. Atherosclerosis is a condition that develops when plaque, made from various substances that circulate in your blood, builds up on the walls of the arteries. The buildup narrows the arteries and makes it difficult for blood to flow through. The major risks of atherosclerosis are heart attack or stroke (American Heart Association, n.d.).

According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), Coronary heart disease is a cardiovascular disease caused by a cholesterol substance termed plaque, accumulating within the coronary arteries, which is where oxygen-rich blood is delivered to the heart. Progressively, the flow of oxygen to the heart will suffer if hardened plaque begins to narrow the coronary arteries. Furthermore, blood clots could occur upon the surface of plaque if it ruptures. Large blood clots will incapacitate blood flow through the coronary arteries. As a result, angina or a heart attack may follow plaque-blocked oxygen-rich blood flow. The NHLBI refers to CHD as a progressive disease where a destabilised heart can lead to conditions such as heart failure

Although the term cardiovascular disease refers to a disorder of the cardiovascular system, it is usually associated with atherosclerosis, also known as arterial disease. It is considered the leading cause of deaths in the world, taking 17.1 million lives a year. There are only a few factors that are non-modifiable, these being the persons age, gender, family history and their race and ethnicity. Although there are non-modifiable risk factors, there are multiple multiple risk factors that are modifiable that anyone can use to prevent getting any type of cardiovascular disease. These people just need to have the motivation to be able to change themselves and their lifestyles in order to better

Heart disease can then lead to heart attack and/or stroke and later, potentially, death. The prevalence of these risk factors in minority populations can be attributed to a multitude of social determinants including but not limited to income, education, access to care, and genetics/physiology. Plaque build up in arteries leads to the most common cause of cardiovascular disease, and this is influenced by diet, exercise, smoking, and weight.

Cardiovascular and metabolic diseases are a growing problem around the world today. Not only do diseases such as diabetes and heart disease affect individuals and their lifestyles, they also affect the economy, politics, education and the professional work environment. 20-26% of individuals in the United States live with heart disease, and obesity and high blood pressure compose the greatest factors for developing this disease [20]. Studies have shown a direct correlation between the amount of sedentary time and cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk, regardless of baseline measurements [20]. Thus, increase in physical activity will decrease cardiometabolic risk factors [8]. Several studies indicate a positive correlation between physical activity and decreased cardiometabolic risk markers [2,4,11,16]. However, we now know that an individual who is getting the recommended physical activity per day can still have a large amount of sedentary time.

According to the WHO, cardiovascular diseases have been the leading cause of death globally claiming 17 million lives a year, more deaths than all cancer combined (Chiu and Radisic, 2013). Cardiovascular disease is responsible for a preponderance of health problems and its impact is expected to grow further as the population ages. In the UK, NHS spends about £7.74 billion as the expenditure to deal with cardiovascular diseases (Barton et al., 2011). Cardiovascular disease in the form of myocardial infarction has become the principle cause of death in developed countries, accounting for nearly 40% of all deaths (http://www.bhf.org.uk/). Congenital heart defects, which occur in nearly 14 of every 1000 new-born children, is another tragic fact that baffles medical industry (http://www.heart.org/). About 61 million Americans (almost one-fourth of the population) live with cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease, congenital cardiovascular defects, and congestive heart failure.

Cardiovascular disease has reportedly been the number one disease killer for men and women in the United States of America. Every one out of four deaths is caused by heart disease in the United States alone (Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention). Heart disease refers to the different types of conditions and symptoms that can affect the one’s heart and its functions to the body (Mayo Clinic). Cardiovascular/Heart disease has many causes and conditions, prevention methods and symptoms, and treatment options.

Heart disease, sometimes called cardiovascular disease, is the narrowing or blockage of blood vessels around the heart. It is affected by many factors. Some of these factors include age, gender, obesity, high cholesterol, lack of physical activity, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, as well as genetic heart defects that one might be born with. The question now becomes how do these risk factors affect or impact heart disease. Are the factors necessary, sufficient, or component causes? Someone with a healthy heart will generally not have problems associated with heart disease, except perhaps though drug or alcohol use. Someone with heart disease, however, has a heart that has been damaged through one of the

Some cases are related to family history, but in my opinion the majority of cases are self-inflicted i.e. they are related to diet and lifestyle and I intend to investigate the factors that contribute towards the development of Coronary Heart Disease. Coronary Heart Disease is caused by the narrowing of the

Coronary heart disease (CHD), also known as ischemic heart disease is the most prevalent form of cardiovascular disease in Australia (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014). While over 20,000 of deaths in 2011 were attributed to CHD. There were estimated 590,000 Australians 18 years old and above diagnosed with CHD in 2011-2012 (AIHW, 2014; Craft, 2014, pg. 596). Myocardial ischaemia is a common form of CHD. A sufficient coronary artery blood flow is essential to supply oxygen for normal cardiac activities. Myocardial ischaemia develops when there is an insufficient supply of blood and oxygen to support the function of myocardial cells (Craft, 2014, pg. 599). A decrease in blood supply can led to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques by narrowing or occluding the arteries. Other conditions such as hypotension, coronary spasm, dysthymias, hypoxemia and anaemia can also decrease the blood and oxygen supply to the myocardial cells (McCance & Huether, 2014, pg. 1153)

Coronary artery disease (CHD). Coronary artery disease is characterized by damaged or diseased coronary arteries, the major blood vessels that supply the heart with oxygen. The major cause of CHD is atherosclerosis, the build-up of fat deposits (plaque) and other cellular waste products on the walls in arteries that cause further inflammation and narrowing or complete blockage of major heart vessels. As a result, the decreased blood flow cause chest pain and shortness of breath. In some cases, a complete blockage occur and can lead to a heart attack (myocardial infarction). Usually, CHD develops slowly and patient might have no symptoms until the complete blockage of coronary arteries and heart attack occur. As happened in Mrs. S case, she was unaware of extent of her coronary arteries damage. After having a cholecystectomy, she developed cardiac complications and suffered an acute MI. Any surgical procedure places and additional emotional and physical stress on the heart and can cause cardiac complications.

Diet influences the level of cholesterol and is a risk for CHD. Other risk factors include; cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, Inactivity, high Triglyceride levels and male steroids(Charalambos and M, March 10, 2014).

There are also other important risk factors involved with men experiencing higher rates of coronary heart disease (CHD) than women. The risk of contracting CVD is increased in men whose first degree blood relative has suffered incidence of CVD before the age of 55 years and the same prevails in women whose first degree blood relative has suffered CVD before the age of 65 years. In addition, some ethnic groups exhibit higher rates of CVD than others [5].