Cardiac related health problems are one of the leading causes of death in industrialized areas throughout the Western world.1 Psychosocial factors such as stress and anxiety are often disregarded but have a major role to play in the development of cardiac disease. These factors are mostly manageable, allowing the risk of cardiac disease to decrease. This paper aims to discuss the influence of these psychosocial risk factors on cardiac health using the findings of epidemiological studies and the pathophysiology. The management of these risk factors will also be discussed. This will aid an understanding of the psychosocial factors that may have influenced Mr. Petersen’s health and his
Takotsubo cardiomyopathy also called as Stress-induced transient cardiomyopathy, apical ballooning syndrome, and broken heart syndrome was first reported in 1991 [1 in Japan, and accounts for 1.2% of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) that present with elevated cardiac biomarkers [1,2,3. The condition is often associated with acute medical illnesses, catastrophic life events, and intense physical or emotional stress [2, 3. Although the pathogenesis of stress-induced cardiomyopathy is not fully understood, the hypothesis includes catecholamine excess [16, coronary vasospasm, micro vascular dysfunction and dynamic mid cavity or left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Postmenopausal women appear to be at a higher risk for developing the disease as about 80% of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy occurs in postmenopausal women [3].
Stress cardiomyopathy (SCMP), also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome, is a clinical condition characterized by acute reversible ventricular dysfunction. It usually affects the left ventricle (LV) and classically involves the mid and apical segments sparing the basal segments. Hence it also has been termed as apical ballooning syndrome. It accounts for approximately 1 to 2% of all troponin proven acute coronary syndrome events. It is typically associated with emotional or physical stressors or seen in the setting of acute medical condition (like surgery, cerebrovascular accident or an asthmatic episode), and is thought to be a catecholamine-mediated injury. These patients regain their ventricular function
The heart is one of the most important organs in an organism’s body, no matter if they are aquatic, amphibian, or a mammal. This super organ works automatically, able to pump massive amounts of oxygen rich blood through the body by means of electrical impulses and the opening and closing of valves within its many layers. It is what keeps us and every other creature on this earth alive; so it is only natural for one to fear when there might be a problem with one’s heart. A cardiac arrhythmia can happen to anyone, no matter the age, race, or gender, and as such, doctors and scientist have spent years trying to better understand the heart and the way it functions so that they can try to prevent these problems and save millions of lives.
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.
According to the “(CDC) Center of Disease Control heart disease is the number one leading cause of death in america. If you have heart disease then you have a higher chance of cardiac arrest or a heart attack.”
Over the past few years cardiovascular diseases have become the number one global cause of death. These diseases were first discovered 3,500 years ago with the Egyptians, and ever since then the causes have been pretty much the same. Although there are things that can be done to either increase or decrease the chances of getting heart disease. “Heart diseases describe a range of conditions that affect the heart” (Sheen 1). It can range from a myocardial infarction- a heart attack-, to a cerebral vascular disease, which is a disease of the blood vessels. Either way these diseases can impact the life of people in many negative aspects. Cardiovascular diseases have become the number one cause in global death due to the bad habits, diets, stress, and natural and chemical causes that the global population has.
Stephanie Clifford’s A Shot to the Heart tells the story of Peter Forcelli, a Bronx detective that had arrested and convicted Edward Garry, an innocent man. Garry was charged with the robbery of Irene’s New Hope Grocery and the murder of retired NYPD officer Oswald Potter. When the robbery occurred, Potter attempted to stop the robbery when shouting, “I am a police officer” and knocking a suspect to the ground. Later gunshots were heard coming from the grocery store as two suspects fled the scene. Potters was found collapsed in a car with a single gunshot wound to the chest and later was pronounced dead at a hospital. Forcelli the explains that the arrival of a new system called CompStat and the murder of a police officer created an immense pressure to solve the case as quickly as possible. Basing their arrest off two unconfident eyewitnesses who picked Garry out of a line up, without any physical evidence or even a confession. Not long after Forcelli joined the A.T.F. where he soon developed his interest in pursuing wrongful convictions. His new passion had reminded him of Edward Garry’s case and the idea that a man was convicted on such little evidence made him sick. Forcelli then made it his goal to exonerate Garry, an innocent man serving a life sentence. Forcelli then notes the difficulty of freeing an innocent man from his sentence is much more difficult than convicting him in the first place.
The effects of stress and heart disease is explained in a study Chida and Steptoe (2009), in which investigators looked at populations of people in healthy known areas, and assessed in total twenty five different studies. Anger and hostility has a positive relationship with coronary heart disease and was greater in men compared to women. Their findings also showed that individuals who had cardiac arrest and were resuscitated, twenty five percent admitted to feeling extremely stressed with work and family instances just twenty four hours before they had cardiac arrest. Daily activities that provoked moderate, acute stress demonstrated lower levels of blood supply to the hearts muscle. Deanfield et al. (1984)
By providing an example of patients who have several mental disorders such as depression, bipolar, and neurotic problems, “were twice as likely to have a stroke or experience heart disease that the general population” (Gregorie). She also added, “cardiologist showed how stress can trigger neurological and psychological changes that create the conditions for heart attacks” (Gregorie). With providing this information, Gregorie painted the basic overview of how depression and heart disease can cause one
All in all, heart disease is effecting people all around us. Weather it’s needing a heart pump, having electrical issues, or having coronary artery disease, it changed each one of these people’s life. These studies show that the outcome of being diagnosed with a heart condition, can be positive or negative. Nobody is expecting it to be them that gets the heart disease so we have to live every day to the fullest and not take the time we have for granted because who knows, any of us could be in one of these case
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Have you ever imagine a body functioning without a heart? The heart, the center of the cardiovascular system, is the essential manager for just about everything that gives the body life. Correspondingly, most of the heart diseases are fatal and cannot be ignored. In fact, "heart disease is the leading cause of death for women as well as men"(1). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, every 25 seconds someone has a coronary event(1). One of these diseases is coronary heart disease (CHD). "CHD is a condition in which certain substances builds up inside the coronary arteries"(2). When these substances block the flow of oxygen-rich blood, heart attacks most often occur. Heart attack, also known as myocardial infarction, is a serious event and a leading killer that has numerous symptoms and certain risk factors.
What prompts to a heart assault is blocked blood stream to a piece of your heart. What traded off the blood stream is plaque develop inside your supply routes, a condition medicinally alluded to as atherosclerosis. This plaque can crack and frame a blood coagulation that restrains blood stream to the heart.
As the population ages heart failure is expected to increase exceptionally. About twenty-two percent of men and forty-four percent of women will develop heart failure within six years of having a heart attack. “Thirty years ago patients would have died from their heart attacks!” (Couzens)