Cardiovascular Update: Preventing Heart Disease
September 24th, 2009 Posted in heart disease
This article is written to take some of the mystery (and hopefully, some of the fear) from the words, “heart disease.”
Although there are many different types of heart disease when someone mentions the words “heart disease” most people think of coronary heart disease first. Coronary heart disease is a “narrowing of the arteries that lead to the heart” however it is important to stress that coronary heart disease is only one form of heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common types of heart disease. In fact, it is the number one cause of death for both men and women in the United States. Heart disease affects both the structure of the heart and the functioning of it or sometimes both. A number of conditions fall under the category of heart disease and these include coronary heart disease (which takes into account heart attacks), heart failure, heart valve disease, abnormal heart rhythms (or arrhythmias), congenital heart disease, pericardial disease, aorta disease and Marfan syndrome, heart muscle disease (or cardiomyopathy), and vascular disease (blood vessel disease).
Coronary artery disease (or abbreviated to CAD) is another name for atherosclerosis or simply hardening of the arteries. It is the arteries that make it possible for nutrients and oxygen to make it to the heart. This is also one of the more common types of heart disease.
The average heart beats 60 to 100 times per minute in a steady even manner. This works out to be approximately 100,000 each and every day. However for reasons unknown to the medical community, sometimes the heart falls out of rhythm. This leads to an abnormal heartbeat or an irregular heartbeat, which is known as arrhythmia. Also known as a dysrhythmia, in this cause a change takes place to the rhythm of the heart, which can lead to a heartbeat that is too fast, too slow or uneven in how it beats. This is one of the more unusual types of heart disease.
The term “heart failure” is somewhat misleading. Heart failure does not mean that the heart has failed or that it has ceased to work properly. Instead it means that the pumping action of the heart is not as good as it should be. Heart failure affects an average of five million Americans every year and is the number one cause of hospitalization for individuals over the age of 65.
The heart has four chambers and heart valves lie at the exit of each one and allow one-way blood flow to make its way through the heart. Heart valve disease takes place when there is a problem with any one of these heart valves. Some examples of heart valve disease include aortic stenosis, mitral valve insufficiency and mitral valve prolapse.
Congenital heart disease is a problem that occurs before a baby is born and is a defect in the way the heart is structured or else in the structure of the blood vessels. Congenital heart disease sometimes does not show itself until a person is a child and in some cases, until they become an adult. Congenital heart defects affect an average of 8 out of every 1,000 babies born on an annual basis.
Cardiomyopathies are diseases that occur to affect the muscle of the heart. Generally this includes heart muscles that are enlarged or else have become stiff or thickened over a period of time. Heart muscle disease makes it difficult for the heart to adequately pump blood. If it is left untreated, a cardiomyopathy will get worse as time progresses and can very often lead to both heart failure as well as abnormal heart rhythms.
Pericarditis is a condition that involves the lining of the heart becoming inflamed. This is one of the more unusual types of heart disease. This condition is actually rather rare and is most often caused by one type of infection or another.
The aorta is the biggest artery in the heart and a number of conditions can cause it to either tear or to widen (or dilate). Thee include the genetic condition known as Marfan Syndrome, high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, connective tissue disorders and injury. This is one of the types of heart disease that is somewhat rare.
Watch the video related to heart disease
Modern technologies are making great strides in treating cardiovascular disease. However prevention is still the best option for most of us. The UCSD Cardiovascular Center presents a talk by Dr. Michael Criqui on the strategies to prevent heart disease. Series: “UCSD Cardiovascular Center: Cardiovascular Update” [10/2001] [Health and Medicine] [Show ID: 5989]
Help answer the question about heart disease
Why has Heart Disease has been the number one killer in the US for decades, without decrease?Even though we know that Heart Disease has been the number one killer in the US for decades, how come we have not made more headway in decreasing the rates?
About Author
Verlyn Ross owns and operates a website dedicated specifically to providing health and fitness information. It includes a wealth of free articles in which you may have an interest. I invite you to access and freely explore my website.
Tags: and, Angina, congenital, Coronary, Diabetes, heart, Ischemia, Types Of Heart Disease, Valvular Heart Disease
11 Responses to “Cardiovascular Update: Preventing Heart Disease”
By American Gay Beef on Sep 24, 2009
I dont know but my guess is stay away from fatty foods buy things like cheese and yoghurt's (lite) but still try and cut down and eat more fruits and vegetables and do daily exercises and keep your body weight down, and dont smoke….
All the best…
Here is a link that has some good information on what you should eat to prevent heart disease but i think is helpful for people who have it…
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10292
By marshall on Sep 25, 2009
If you are really looking for the best diet,
I suggest doing what this mom did and combining the Acai diet with a cleansing program for the best diet result
http://saras-the-best-diet.blogspot.com/
By WPMixer on Sep 25, 2009
This lecture is way, way obsolete.
By Wordpress on Sep 25, 2009
This topic is so interesting but the lecturer is talking too fast. if the audience is laymen, they can’t comprehend properly. To convey the message to audience, he should talk much slower.
By spacezebra on Sep 25, 2009
In some cases of congenital heart disease there are physical malformations that can cause electrical signals from one area of the heart to another area to be attenuated or timed incorrectly. The signal transduction pathway may be operating at the cellular level as it should. If the signals received to initiate the complex process are weak or not timed properly the resulting release of glucose to power the heart muscle may not be sufficient to sustain normal heart function. Muscle contractions may be either weak or not timed properly to co-ordinate with other heart muscles. In some cases there may be a lack of sufficient amount of a particular enzyme which may result in the signal transduction pathway within the cell to function improperly. As you may be aware from your research, normal heart function is a very complex process involving a great number of steps which all must take place in proper sequence. The number of steps within the cell alone are very complex. I hope that gives you some insight on the subject.
By memyselfandi on Sep 26, 2009
Congenital means "from birth." Congenital heart disease is something you are born with, such as a murmur. If her artery is becoming slowly blocked, she does not have congenital disease. Coronary is the build up of plaques inside the artery walls. See attached link
By Rob on Sep 26, 2009
Hi I work for a health video website called http://icyou.com. Below are the links to 2 videos on our site. The first video gives the signs and symptoms of heart disease and the second video talks about preventative measures you can take to lower your risk for heart disease:
http://www.icyou.com/topics/cardiovascular-disease/heart-disease-signs-and-symptoms+
http://www.icyou.com/topics/diseases-conditions/cardiovascular-disease/heart-attack-stroke-reduce-your-risk+
Hope this helps!~
By Thrasymachus on Sep 27, 2009
It hardens the arteries, making the passage of the blood alot harder to travel…this is one of the reasons why heart patients take aspirin, since aspirin thins the blood, and allows it to pass through those hardened arteries…
My father died of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease) and he was an otherwise healthy man…He had an angina attack and 2 heart attacks…2 of his arteries were severely hardened and clogged…His cholesterol was normal as was his blood pressure and everything else…so what caused it? According to doctors it was his smoking!
If you are or know a smoker, learn from others' tragedies.
By Mehndi on Sep 27, 2009
Congenital means it was present at birth. It is not associated with aging, although it may be undetected until adulthood, depending on its severity.
By kristomboy on Sep 28, 2009
Well for starters a healthy heart is a heart that operates circumstantially around the scientific standards, you know the stuff, the heart rate, how fats it beats and so on. If a heart does not mirror the average conditions of a human heart set by once again scientific standards then it is unhealthy or not up to-par. I guess the best way to a healthy heart is by eating right, exercising and taking care of yourself.
By GirlyGirl on Sep 28, 2009
yes1 my wife she is diagnose with heart ailment and high blood pressure but she give me already 2 children's can you beat that!