Cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease refers to all diseases that involve the heart and/or blood vessels, arteries, and veins. These problems are most commonly due to consequences of arterial disease, atherosclerosis, atheroma, but also can be related to infection, valvular, and clotting problems.

Over 50 million Americans have heart and cardiovascular-related problems. Cardiovascular disease is the number 1 cause of death and disability in the United States. By the time that cardiovascular heart problems are detected, the disease is usually quite advanced (having progressed for decades), often too advanced to allow successful prevention of major permanent disability or death.

Forms of cardiovascular disease

Major forms of cardiovascular disease include:

Angina pectoris, leading to PTCA or CABG as treatments

Coronary heart disease or inflammation and obstruction of the coronary arteries

Myocardial infarction (heart attack in lay parlance, and the acute stage of coronary heart disease)

Transient ischemic attacks (TIAs, mini-strokes in lay parlance)

Cerebrovascular accidents/Strokes

Peripheral artery disease (PAD)

Specific illness features (sequelae) may include: arterial enlargementss, arterial narrowings, high blood pressure, angina, irregular heart ratess, inappropriate rapid heart rate, inappropriate slow heart rate, heart attack, heart enlargement, heart muscle weakness, inflammation of the heart muscle, overall heart pumping weakness, heart valve leaks, heart valve stenosis (failure-to-open fully), infection of the heart valve leaflets and heart stoppage.

Risk Factors

Major risk factors of cardiovascular disease include:

Pre-existing cardiovascular disease (usually not recognized by people or their physicians until very advanced)

Diabetes mellitus

Less than excellent lipoprotein particle profile

Smoking

Higher fibrinogen blood concentrations

Upper half of normal and especially elevated homocysteine

Aging and being male (women have more problems after menopause, but hormone replacement therapy worsens rather than improves the risk)

Hypertension

Above optimal weight, especially increased intra-abdominal fat (even in people who appear thin)

Genetic factors (most humans are genetically prone)

Physically inactive

Male sex (although cardiovascular disease is also the number health problem for women)

Positive family history

Prevention

Some steps an individual can take to reduce the risk of cardivascular disease include:

Not smoking

Maintaining a healthy body mass index

Maintaining a diet conducive to cardovascular health, for example the polymeal

Getting regular cardiovascular exercise

Diet

a low energy diet

Exercise

aerobic exercise, which will increase the strength of the heart

Treatment

Treatment of cardiovascular disease depends on the specific form of the disease in each patient, but effective treatment always includes lifestyle changes consistent with prevention. Medications, such as blood-pressure-reducing medications, aspirin, and other treatments, may be involved. In some circumstances, surgery may be warranted to repair or replace damaged blood vessels or heart tissue.

Research

The causes, prevention, and treatment of all forms of cardiovascular disease are active fields of biomedical research.

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