Risk factors of Coronary Artery Disease

The heart is a muscle that pumps blood around the body through a series of pipes. These pipes are called arteries. The left side of the heart receives fresh, oxygen-rich blood from the lungs and then pumps it out a large artery called the aorta that branches into smaller arteries that go to all parts of the body.

Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease, is the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. CHD occurs when plaque builds up inside the coronary arteries.

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood. Over time, plaque hardens and narrows the arteries, reducing blood flow to the heart muscle. When plaque builds up in the arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis. The buildup of plaque occurs over many years.

Coronary artery disease is caused by a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors.

These are called risk factors. The following risk factors are important to be aware of but are not considered to be controllable:
• Age. As the person get older, the risk of heart disease increases
• Gender. Age of 55 are at higher risk of heart disease. For persons aged 40 years, the lifetime risk of developing coronary heart disease is 49 percent in men and 32 percent in women. After menopause, a woman’s risk of heart disease gradually becomes the same as a man’s
• Heredity. Risk of heart disease is increased if close family members—a parent brother or sister—developed heart disease before age 55 or, in the case of female relatives, before menopause.
• Ethnicity

The risk factors that can be controlled are:
• Smoking
• Excess fats and cholesterol in the blood
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• Abnormal blood cholesterol levels
• Lack of regular exercise
• Excess sugar in the blood (often due to diabetes)
• Excessive stress levels
• Depression

Research suggests that coronary artery disease starts when certain factors damage the inner layers of the coronary arteries. These factors include smoking, high amounts of certain fats and cholesterol in the blood, high blood pressure, and high amounts of sugar in the blood due to insulin resistance or diabetes.

When damage occurs, your body starts a healing process. This process causes plaque to build up where the arteries are damaged.

Coronary artery disease makes it more difficult for oxygen-rich blood to move through arteries. Common symptoms of coronary artery disease include:
• Angina: Upper body pain or pressure. Angina is chest pain or discomfort. It may feel like pressure or squeezing in the chest. The pain also can occur in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. Angina pain may even feel like indigestion.
• Shortness of breath: Shortness of breath (dyspnea) with exertion, or chest tightness, squeezing, or burning.
Risk factors of Coronary Artery  Disease

Hypertensive heart disease

Hypertension is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular mortality and death from all causes. It is a major risk factor for the development of systolic heart failure as well as heart failure in the setting of preserved left ventricular function.

Hypertensive heart disease can be defined as the response of the heart to the afterload imposed on the left ventricle by the progressively increasing arterial pressure and total peripheral resistance.

Severe hypertension may directly damage arterioles and cause atherosclerosis. High blood pressure is also a risk for stroke.

The risk of cardiovascular events is increased two or three times in men and women with hypertension. It is estimated that 14% deaths from coronary heart disease in men and 12% of deaths from coronary heart disease in women are due to hypertension.

Hypertensive heart disease is characterized by increased left ventricular mass leading to left ventricular hypertrophy in the absence of aortic stenosis or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Other manifestations include diastolic dysfunction and microvascular changes that cause coronary blood flow abnormalities.

Left ventricular hypertrophy increases the rletaove risk for amrtlaity by twofold in subjects with coronary artery disease and by four fold in those with normal epicardial coronary arteries.

In the development of hypertensive heart disease, myocyte hypertrophy is also associated with apoptosis, collagen deposition, a ventricular fibrosis, with as impairment of coronary hemodynamics as well, thus profoundly influencing functional properties of the left ventricle.
Hypertensive heart disease

Coronary artery disease

Coronary artery disease is one of the most common and yet often preventable causes of death worldwide.

Also known as coronary heart disease or atherosclerotic heart disease is the most common form of heart disease in the United States. Coronary artery disease is a condition characterized by the development of atherosclerotic plaques (fibro-fatty deposits) in the coronary arteries.

In coronary artery disease, the coronary arteries become narrowed or blocked and the bloods supply to the heart is restricted.

This diminished flow deprives the heart of vital oxygen and nutrient, causing tissue damage and potentially serious complications.

There are numbers of risk factors if modified can prevent development of CAD, including elevated serum cholesterol, low levels of high density lipoprotein cholesterol, uncontrolled hypertension, cigarette smoking, obesity, and psychical inactivity.

The most common symptom is chest pain (angina); other symptoms include shortness of breath, swollen feet and ankles and pain in shoulder, arm, jaw or back.
Coronary artery disease