One of the most widely recognized causes of premature death worldwide today is heart disease. Although this may sound very depressing, the reality is that the incidence of premature deaths caused by heart disease has significantly declined in recent years. Although progress has been made in the treatment of heart disease, additional effort needs to be made to prevent this illness as much as possible. Heart disease often takes a toll on the sufferer's and his family's lives. Treating heart disease can also be very complicated, requiring specialized human resources, equipment and medication. The costs of such treatments are also very high. In summary, prevention is better than the cure. Let's now review the other factors.
Who Are At Risk?
People who have a family history of heart disease are probably the most at risk. So, bear in mind that if hereditary heart disease is prevalent in your family it would probably be a wise step to discuss this aspect with your doctor and to have regular annual appointments with him to check for potential problems. Be assured that if you do this, your chances of circumventing heart disease will be so much better.
Heart Disease Is A Leading Cause For Fatalities
Although more men are prone to heart disease than women, it is the most widely recognized cause of death in women. Strangely enough the observation that women live longer than men is also still true. Women therefore have to take certain measures to prevent the onset and development of heart disease.
Recognition Of The Problem Often Occurs Too Late
Doctors and specialists today, armed with improved technologies, are able to diagnose and treat heart disease more comprehensively than ever in the past. Unfortunately, by the time most people realize that they are suffering from heart disease, it would have escalated to an advanced stage that poses a treatment challenge for physicians. Often the onset of the illness only comes to light when the person has already been afflicted by a stroke or heart attack.
Of the many contributing factors of heart disease in people, smoking cigarettes is the most critical. Other factors such as elevated blood cholesterol levels as well as obesity, high blood pressure, sedentary lifestyles and diabetes heighten the incidence of heart disease. The person who does not deny these risk factors will have a better understanding and chance of survival should he or she be afflicted by some form of heart disease. Obviously it will mean making some necessary lifestyle changes.
Tremendous advances in medical technology have been made in many areas and also in terms of treatment protocols for sufferers of coronary heart disease. The development of drugs specifically designed to prevent heart attacks has increased and are readily available. Surgical techniques have advanced tremendously since the days of Dr. Chris Barnard and the first heart transplant. Both drug and surgery treatment protocols are designed for the elimination of heart problems and the restoration of proper heart function. The success of these developments is documented by the sharp decline of fatalities due to heart disease.
Steps Forward In Dealing With Heart Disease
Many new preventive measures have been developed to reduce the problems associated with heart disease. In addition to the advances in medical treatment for people suffering from heart disease, public awareness for these illnesses has increased dramatically. People are educating themselves with regards to the good benefits of a healthy lifestyle, staying away from smoking and drugs and working out to a cardiovascular exercise routine that is specifically designed to exercise the heart to make it stronger.
This statement by no means indicates that heart disease is not a serious threat, or that heart disease can be circumvented with minor treatment programs. Not at all! Heart disease is a serious health condition the danger of which can never be underplayed. But it is interesting and important to realize that heart disease is no longer the death threat that it was in years gone by.
Check Ups Can Prevent Heart Problems
Regular examinations by the doctor will not prevent heart disease from happening, but these examinations may have a significant impact on your heath if they are able to nip a heart problem in the bud before it becomes serious. This makes sense with regards to any illness. Detecting heart disease early in its developmental stages can motivate the patient to obtain treatment as a matter of urgency. When treatment is received promptly, the higher the chances are to successfully treat the heart disease before it turns out to be life threatening. Because this is so important regular - at least annual - checkups are necessary for those who might be at risk for heart disease.
Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in most developed countries around the world, and the number of cases is rising constantly as a result of both modern lifestyles and increased overall longevity. While developing the condition can have a devastating impact on the sufferer's life, modern medicine has developed several effective treatments for heart disease, ranging from drugs and lifestyle improvements right through to surgery.
Of course, prevention is always better than cure, so before we look at some of the symptoms of cardiac disease we'll look at some of the ways you can help your body ward off the risks.
Living a healthy lifestyle can go a long way to reducing the chances of developing cardiac problems, but there is unfortunately an element of inherited risk, so even those with excellent overall health may find that they're genetically programmed towards heart disease in later life. Thankfully, the greatest influence genetics has on heart disease is that of making us more susceptible to certain causes, and with careful adjustments of our lifestyles we can greatly improve our prospects of avoiding it.
The two most deadly contributors to cardiac problems are smoking and obesity. Both of these can raise blood pressure to dangerous levels, putting extra strain on the heart. Smoking causes the build up of fatty deposits within the arteries, also causing circulation problems. Being overweight also tends to mean that a healthy diet is not being followed, and so the body may well be short of essential minerals and nutriments that the heart needs to keep on functioning healthily.
Stopping smoking and other unhealthy practices such as excessive drinking, along with improving diet and taking up exercise to reduce weight can go a long way towards averting problems.
The symptoms of a developing heart problem can be both subtle and dramatic. Unfortunately, many of the symptoms can also signify other less dangerous conditions, and so a diagnosis of heart disease is often made later than it could have been. If you come across more than one of the symptoms below, then a trip to your doctor is highly advisable.
Breathlessness when engaged in physical exercise is normal to some extent for almost everyone, but if you find you're becoming breathless more and more easily then this is a clear sign that your general fitness levels aren't all they could be, and that your heart may be struggling under the pressure.
Palpitations, that is a heavily or unevenly beating heart, can be a sign of anxiety or can come on after extreme exercise, but if neither of these situations apply then heart problems could well be the culprit.
A tingling feeling in bodily extremities such as fingers, toes or lips is often a sign that your cirulation system isn't delivering enough oxygen, again a sign of possible heart problems. Should your extremeities go on to develop a blueish colour then this is certainly not a good sign, and medical attention should be sought at once.
The final and most obvious sign of cardiac problems is a feeling of tightness or pain in the chest, a condition known as angina. If you feel chest pain with any regularity, even if not particularly severely, a medical check up is advisable to make sure you catch any problems as early as possible. Angina can be controlled very well by medication in many cases, and doesn't necessarily have to develop into full-blown heart disease.
Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death in the United States. It is a major cause of disability. Nearly 700,000 individuals die of heart disease in the United States each year. This means that heart disease accounts for roughly 29% of all deaths in the United States each year. Heart disease is an umbrella term that encompasses several more specific heart conditions. The most common heart disease in the United States is coronary heart disease. This can lead to heart attack.
The risk of coronary heart disease can be reduced by taking a number of steps to prevent and to control the adverse factors that put specific people at greater risk for heart disease and heart attack. Knowing the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, calling 911 immediately, and getting to a hospital as soon as possible are crucial to getting a positive outcome after a heart attack. It is also possible for people who have already had one heart attack to work to reduce the risk of future heart events.
Cardiomyopathy is one of the diseases contained under "heart disease." It literally means "heart muscle disease" as Myo = muscle, pathy = disease, and cardio = hart. This disease is the deterioration of the function of the myocardium, the actual heart muscle, for any reason. People who have cardiomyopathy are frequently at risk for arrhythmias and or sudden cardiac death.
Extrinsic cardiomyopathies, cardiomyopathies where the primary cause of the disease is outside the heart muscle, are the main classification. The majority of cardiomyopathies are caused by ischemia. The World Health Organization calls these specific cardiomyopathies. Common causes of myopathies include:
- Alcohol
- Coronary Artery Disease
- Congenital heart disease
- Nutritional diseases affection the heart
- Ischemic cardiomyopathy
- Hypertensive cardiomyopathy
Coronary artery disease is a disease of the artery caused by the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the arteries that bring blood to the myocardium, or heart muscle. Chest pain and heart attacks are symptoms of and conditions caused by coronary artery disease, or CAD.
More than 459,000 Americans die of CAD on a yearly basis. In the United Kingdom, more than 100,000 deaths are due to coronary artery disease annually.
Cardiovascular disease is any number of specific diseases that affect the heart or the blood vessel system. This is particularly true of the veins and arteries leading to and from the heart. Research that has been conducted on heart diseases suggests that women who suffer from cardiovascular disease usually suffer from the forms that affect the blood vessels while men typically suffer from forms that affect the heart muscle itself. Known or associated causes of cardiovascular diseases include diabetes, hypertension, hyperhomocysteinemia, and high cholesterol.
Heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S with about one in four American women dying of the said disease. The American Heart Associated then established a national movement called Go Red for Women where February 1st has been designated as the national wear red day.
Heart or cardiovascular disease has several types. The most common is coronary artery disease where the heart does not get enough blood. Others can be congenital or acquired since birth and may be brought about by the physical defects that already existed in the heart.
The usual indicator for heart attack is chest pain yet there are many instances where chest pain may not be present. Atypical symptoms of heart disease in women include back pain, nausea, or fatigue, lightheadedness, weakness and dizziness. Other symptoms can also manifest about four or six months earlier before the heart attack and this is called prodromal symptoms.
Prodromal symptoms are unusual fatigue, anxiety, pain in shoulder blade and upper back, shortness of breath and indigestion.
The use of birth control pills is also being taken as risk factor for heart disease. This can be true or not depending on the woman taking oral contraceptives. For women who do not have serious risk factors for cardiovascular disease, low-dose birth control pills do not pose a risk but for those who have certain risk factors such as smoking, or having a family history of heart problems, women who are taking birth control pills should consider other alternatives for contraceptive.
Eating a heart healthy diet would minimize your risks for developing heart disease. A diet that is good for the heart composed of fruits and vegetables, grains (particularly whole grains), fat-free and low-fat dairy products, fish, legumes (e.g., lentils, chickpeas, soybeans), poultry, and lean meats. Those who are fond of red meat or Western-style diet increase a woman's risk of having heart diseases by 46%.
Heart disease is a health condition that can be controlled at an early stage. With the FAQs about heart problems you should at least be aware how to recognize heart attack and how it can be controlled.