Coronary Heart Disease - CHD |
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Coronary heart
disease is the UK's biggest killer, with one in every four men and
one in every six women dying from the disease. |
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In the UK,
approximately 300,000 people have a heart attack each year. Angina affects about one in fifty people, and in the UK there are an
estimated 1.2 million people with the condition. It affects men
more than women, and your chances of getting it increase as you
get older. |
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 The heart is
a muscle that is about the size of your fist. It pumps blood around
your body and beats approximately seventy times a minute. After the
blood leaves the heart, it goes to your lungs where it picks up oxygen.
The oxygen-rich blood returns to your heart and is then pumped to
the organs of your body through a network of arteries. The blood
returns to your heart through veins before being pumped back to your
lungs again.
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This process
is called circulation. The heart gets its own supply of blood from
a network of blood vessels on the surface of your heart, called coronary
arteries. Coronary heart disease Coronary heart disease is the term
that describes what happens when your heart's blood supply is blocked
or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary
arteries.
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Over time, the
walls of your arteries can become furred up with fatty deposits.
This process is known as atherosclerosis, and the fatty deposits
are called atheroma. If your coronary arteries become narrow due
to a build up of atheroma, the blood supply to your heart will be
restricted. This can cause angina (chest pains). If a coronary artery
becomes completely blocked, it can cause a heart
attack.
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The medical term
for a heart attack is myocardial infarction. By making some simple
lifestyle changes, you can reduce your risk of getting coronary heart
disease. And if you already have heart disease, you can take steps
to reduce your risk of developing further heart-related problems. |
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Heart Disease and Smoking |
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When most people think of health problems related to
smoking, they think of lung and breathing problems, but did you know
that smoking is also related to heart disease? |
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Smoking cigarettes is one of the major causes of
heart disease in both men and women. Approximately 30% of all deaths
from heart disease can be directly related to cigarette smoking
in the UK alone. |
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This is because smoking is one of the leading causes of coronary
artery disease! An individual’s risk of heart disease and heart
attack greatly increases with the number of cigarettes he or she
is smoking each day |
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The longer someone smokes, the more they increase their
risk of heart attack. People who smoke just one pack of cigarettes
a day have more than twice the risk of heart attack than non-smokers.
Women who smoke and take birth control greatly increase their risk
of heart attack, stroke and peripheral vascular disease. |
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Peter Scott - Team Leader
