Heart disease facts
- Coronary artery disease is the most common cause of death in the United States. Over a million people each year will have a heart attack and 25% will die before they get to the hospital while or in the Emergency Department.
- Prevention is the key to treatment of heart disease.
- Diagnosis of heart disease is often made by careful history taken by a health care practitioner. Some individuals may have atypical symptoms, including almost none at all.
- The testing strategy to confirm the diagnosis and plan appropriate treatment needs to be individualized for each patient diagnosed with heart disease.
- Treatment of heart disease depends upon the severity of disease, and is often directed by the symptoms experienced by the affected individual.
Introduction to heart disease
The heart is like any other muscle, requiring oxygen and nutrient-rich blood for it to function. The coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle spread across the surface of the heart, beginning at the base of the aorta and branching out to all areas of the heart muscle.
The coronary arteries are at risk for narrowing as cholesterol deposits, called plaques, build up inside the artery. If the arteries narrow enough, blood supply to the heart muscle may be compromised (slowed down), and this slowing of blood flow to the heart causes pain, or angina.
A heart attack or myocardial infarction occurs when a plaque ruptures, allowing a blood clot to form. This completely obstructs the artery, stopping all blood flow to part of the heart muscle, and that portion of muscle dies.
What are the risk factors for heart disease?
Risk factors for heart disease include:
- Smoking
- High blood pressure (hypertension)
- High cholesterol
- Diabetes
- Family history
- Peripheral artery disease
- Obesity
Whitney Houston's Death: What Is Atherosclerosis?
Medical Author: Benjamin Wedro, MD, FACEP, FAAEM
Medical Editor: Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD
Medical Editor: Charles Patrick Davis, MD, PhD
It should come as no surprise that Whitney Houston's autopsy showed that she had died because of atherosclerotic heart disease. After all, heart attack is the most common cause of death in the United States. It's the words that get in the way of understanding what happened to Ms. Houston and almost 600,000 victims of heart disease every year. Atherosclerosis describes narrowing and ?hardening? of the arteries and when the arteries in the heart get too narrow, disaster happens...
SOURCE:
MedicineNet
MedicineNet
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