Coronary Heart DiseaseCoronary heart disease:
This disease is a type of coronary artery disease, in short termed as CAD. Coronary arteries supply blood top the heart. Often these arteries harden and become narrow giving rise to coronary artery disease. This is a most common type of disease and often it weakens the muscle giving rise to other problems like failure and attacks. Sometimes the disease can prove fatal if not diagnosed and treated correctly.
What causes this disease?
Arteries harden and become narrow due to weakening of muscle that builds up a fluid called as plaque on their inner walls. The building of plaque in medical terms is known as atherosclerosis. As the plaque increases in size it causes the insides of the arteries to become narrower thereby allowing less blood to flow through them. Therefore blood flow of the heart muscle is reduced. As blood carries much required oxygen, the required oxygen that the muscle needs is not received due to the reduced blood flow caused by the arteries. This procedure is called as coronary disease and can lead to failure or attack.
Coronary disease can cause:
1. Angina – This is a type of discomfort that happens due to chest pain when the heart does not get enough blood.
2. Attack – Blood clot develops at the site of plaque in the coronary artery and allows less or no blood supply to the muscle. Cells in the muscle begin to die due to lack of supply of oxygen rich blood thereby damaging the muscle permanently. This gives rise to attacks.
3. Arrhythmias – These are changes in the normal beating rhythm and sometimes can be quite serious.
4. Failure – Does not stop the working of the heart, but means inefficient pumping of blood to the rest of the body.
Factors that risk coronary disease:
About 83% of people die of coronary disease are of 65 years of age or older. Men are found to be at a greater risk than women. Heredity can also be one of the risk factors.
Other major risk factors are:
Tobacco smokers Presence of high blood cholesterol High blood pressure Physical inactivity Overweight Diabetes Consumption of alcohol Also read our article about Diabetes and Heart Disease
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