Myocardial Infarction Is A Common Health Threat

Stage 2 hypertension is described as a Systolic blood pressure of greater than or equal to 160 mm Hg or a Diastolic blood pressure of greater than, or equal to, 100 mm Hg.

Cardiovascular disease is any disease that relates to structural compromises or an obstruction of the blood vessels. Two of the most common types of cardiovascular disease involve obstructions of the arteries or the thinning of the arteries causing an increase in blood pressure. According to the American Heart Association’s article, a 14 year study found that a body mass index of twenty three to twenty five showed an increase in coronary heart disease of fifty percent. Also men from the ages of forty to sixty five with a body mass index of twenty five to twenty nine showed an increase of seventy five percent in risk for coronary heart disease. With increased weight comes

In recent times, women have been increasingly more prone to heart related diseases. Even with campaigns that are run across internationally, there is a lack of realization by many people that the leading causes of deaths in women today are heart diseases. Often women are misdiagnosed by the healthcare providers and their symptoms are not recognized when they are having an acute cardiac arrest. According to statistics, every 30 seconds in the United States of America, a woman suffers from a heart attack (Health, 2013). Out of many types of heart diseases, the myocardial infarction is one of the leading causes of death in women.

You can have any one of these risk factors by itself, but they have a tendency to to occur together. You must have at least three metabolic risk factors to be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. A large waistline also is called abdominal obesity or "having an apple shape." Extra fat in the stomach area is a greater risk factor for heart disease than excess fat in other parts of the body, such as on the hips. A high triglyceride level is another risk factor. Triglycerides are a type of fat found in the blood. A low HDL cholesterol level puts you at risk. HDL sometimes is called "good" cholesterol. This is because it helps remove cholesterol from your arteries. A low HDL cholesterol level raises your risk for heart disease. High blood pressure is the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries as your heart pumps blood. If this pressure rises and stays high over time, it can damage your heart and lead to plaque buildup. High fasting blood sugar can also be a factor which mildly high blood sugar may be an early sign of diabetes. Your risk for heart disease, diabetes, and stroke rises with the number of metabolic risk factors you have. Usually a person who has metabolic syndrome is twice as likely to develop heart disease and five times as likely to develop diabetes as someone who doesn't have metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome is becoming more common due to a rise in obesity rates among adults. Soon,

Stage 1 hypertension: Systolic blood pressure greater than 139 mmHg but less than 160 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure greater than 89 mmHg but less than 100 mmHg.

Blood pressure is taken in order to assess any precautions for treatment. An elevated blood pressure between the ranges of 130-139/85-89 mmHg is known as prehypertension. Prehypertension is a health concern due to an increase risk for cardiovascular disease and organ damage if continued left untreated. Cardiovascular related events associated with prehypertension include heart failure and myocardial infarction. Prehypertension can be caused by an increased amount of stress, lifestyle changes, or can be caused by a secondary disease. Factors that can influence high blood pressure include obesity, smoking, alcohol, excessive sodium intake, lack of physical activity, and diet. Secondary diseases associated with high blood pressure include diabetes mellitus and kidney disease.

Hypertension is the medical term for high blood pressure. A normal blood pressure is 120/80. A blood pressure reading higher or equal to 140/90 is considered abnormally high. Elevated blood pressure means your heart is working harder than normal, putting both your heart and arteries under great strain. High blood pressure is serious business.

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)

My systolic blood pressure number was 136 and my diastolic blood pressure number was 87. I measured my mom’s blood pressure and her systolic number was 125 and her diastolic number was 85. When ones heart beats in contracts and forces blood through their arteries throughout the whole body. The force required to do this induces pressure on the arteries also known as systolic blood pressure. For ones systolic blood pressure level to be considered optimal it would have to less than 120, to be normal it would have to be less than 130 and to be considered in the high normal range the number would have to fall between 130-139. If ones systolic blood pressure level falls between 140-159 they are in hypertension stage 1, if it falls between 160-179

One of the many global health issues that interests me is heart disease. Heart disease has been a major issue for many of the patient’s that I come across in the hospital. It seems to have become an epidemic. At one point heart disease was an uncommon cause of death until about the 21st century which it now has become the leading cause of death (CDC 2013).

The main cause of myocardial infarction is the occlusion of the coronary artery, due to the sudden rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque leading to the formation of a blood clot (coronary thrombosis). The formation of plaque is the result of damage to the endothelium layer of cells, caused by high blood pressure, smoking, or high cholesterol. Over time, an accumulation of cholesterol in the artery wall becomes plaque (Beckerman, 2016). This event can also trigger coronary vasospasm, causing constriction of blood vessels, resulting in severe hypertension. If a vessel is fully occluded, an insufficient amount of oxygen results in tissue death. The damaged tissue is comprised of both a necrotic core and a marginal zone consisting of hypoxic tissue that may generate arrhythmias, abnormal heart rhythms. Infarcted tissue can alter ventricular systolic and diastolic function and disrupt electrical activity within the heart. Inevitably, this tissue forms a fibrotic scar. Long-term consequences include ventricular failure, ventricular remodeling of the remaining myocardium, or sudden death (Klabunde, 2007).

The CDC estimates that roughly 610,000 Americans die each year from an acute myocardial infarction and is the number one cause of death amongst men and women.1 Myocardial infarction (MI) stems from the occlusion of one or more coronary arteries, resulting in hypoxia and eventual death of the myocytes downstream.2 As oxygenated blood leaves the left ventricle traveling into the aorta, the left and right coronary arteries branch off almost immediately. These coronary arteries and their branches provide oxygen and nutrients to the epicardium and myocardium.3 Gradual depositions of fatty streaks in the arteries progress to unstable fibrofatty plaques that cause luminal narrowing.2 The etiology of an acute MI occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque breaks free inside a coronary artery, initiating a thrombotic event referred to as atherothrombosis4. This leads to the partial or total occlusion of a coronary artery, and can occur in a proximal or distal segment of the artery5. The location of this occlusion is often evident from patient’s symptoms and is used to determine course of treatment.5

Hypercholesterolemia – over time this can lead to coronary artery disease (e.g. atherosclerosis) and may lead to heart failure. According to a study looking at risk factors for congestive heart failure hypercholesterolemia was “assocated with a increased incidence of CHF in men” (He et al., 2001)

Hyperlipidemia is a major health problem not a disease which is frequently associated excessive accumulation of fat in body. Hyperlipidemia can be characterized by elevated level of one or more lipid in blood such as triglycerides, total cholesterol and plasma lipoproteins including low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) coupled with decreased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels and contributes in manifestation and development of atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-related conditions, such as coronary heart disease, ischemic cerebro-vascular disease and peripheral vascular disease.

Myocardial infarction is (MI) is a disease characterized by the death of tissue due to an insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to an area of the heart caused by the blockage of coronary artery (Ferri, 2017, Waugh & Grant, 2017). Myocardial infarction usually affects the anterior surface of the left ventricle, due to occlusion of the left coronary artery. (Koutoukidis, G.,Stainton, K.,& Hughson, J, 2017)