|
Coronary Heart Disease
Also known a coronary artery disease, coronary heart
disease (CHD) affects 12.6 million people in the United States and causes
over 500,000 deaths each year. Coronary heart disease is caused by impaired
blood flow to the myocardium of the heart. Accumulation of atherosclerotic
plaque in the coronary arteries is the usual cause. Coronary heart disease
may be symptom free, or it may lead angina pectoris (chest pain), myocardial
infarction (heart attack), dysrhythmias, heart failure, and even sudden
death.
Many risk factors for coronary heart disease can be controlled through
lifestyle changes and modifications. In fact, with the increased public
awareness of the risk factors of this disease the mortality rates are going
down by about 3.3% every year. Even with this decline coronary heart disease
remains a major public health problem.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for all United States ethnic
groups except Asian females. The highest incidence of this disease is in the
Western world and mainly in white males age 45 and older. Both men and women
are affected by coronary heart disease; in women the onset of the disease
occurs around ten years after males because estrogen has certain
heart-protective effects. After menopause and the cessation of estrogen
production the risk to women is the same as men.
The causes of atherosclerosis are unknown, but certain risk factors have
been linked with the development of atherosclerosis plaques. A study called
the Framingham Heart Study provided vital research into the relationship
between these risk factors and the development of heart disease.
The risk factors for CHD are classified in two way, non-modifiable, or
factors that cannot be changes, and modifiable which are factors that can be
changed.
Non-modifiable factors include age. Over 50% of heart attack victims are 65
or older; 80 percent of deaths due to heart attack happen to people in this
age range. Gender, race, and genetic factors also are nonmodifiable risk
factors for coronary heart disease. As shown earlier men are affected by CHD
at an earlier age than women and African Americans are more prone to high
blood pressure which increases the risk of heart disease.
Modifiable risk factors include lifestyle factors and pathologic conditions
that increase the risk of a person developing coronary heart disease.
Pathologic conditions can often be controlled. Behavioral or lifestyle
factors, such as smoking, can be controlled or eliminated. Lifestyle changes
take a large amount of commitment from those who have coronary heart
disease, but to not make this change can have life ending consequences.
| 
