Heart Disease: Part 1
Posted by LisaHill - 22/12/09 at 04:12 amAre You Doing All You Can to Treat this #1 Killer?
Stats:
- Total heart disease prevalence: 36%
- 52% of all deaths from heart disease are from Coronary Artery Disease
- 900,000 deaths from heart disease/year
- Death rate from heart disease higher in men under 50, after age 50, rate increases in women
Heart Disease Statistics
* Every 34 seconds a person in the United States dies from heart disease.
* More than 2,500 Americans die from heart disease each day.
* Every 20 seconds, a person in the United States has a heart attack.
* At least 250,000 people die of heart attacks each year before they reach a hospital.
* Studies show that under-educated people are more likely to suffer heart attacks.
* Men suffer heart attacks about 10 years earlier in life than women do.
Risk Factors
- Heart disease, stroke, hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, physical inactivity, obesity, smoker, age, gender, stress, hereditary
- Alcohol consumption (1-2 drinks/day for men, 1 drink/day for female), BCP especially for those over 35, stress and hormones
- Heart Disease and Smoking
- Research has proved that smoking cigarettes is a leading cause and accelerator of heart disease
- Smoking causes or accelerates heart disease by many different mechanisms
Smoking:
* speeds up progression of atherosclerosis
* alters lipid profile, with more LDL and less HDL
* increases heart muscle oxygen demand by 10%
* reduces coronary artery blood flow due to adrenaline release
* diminishes coronary collateral flow reserve
* lowers threshold for angina pain
* interferes with efficacy of medication designed to prevent angina
* raises blood levels of fibrinogen
* alters the clotting mechanism with aggregation of blood platelets
* causes endothelial cell dysfunction, with reduced ability to produce chemicals that dilate the arteries
