Types Of Cardiovascular Disease
What are cardiovascular diseases?
Cardiovascular diseases are ones that affect specifically the heart and circulatory system. There are a few different types of diseases and these include:
- Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)
In the more developed countries around the world (such as the USA and the UK) cardiovascular diseases are the biggest cause of early death.
CHD and stoke may come as a result of atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis may start to occur in someones teenage years but only start to show symptoms as much as a few decades on. This is because the accumulation of fatty substances in the arteries may take a few decades to build up to the extent that it actually has an effect on the blood flow.
Treating cardiovascular diseases is very expensive and the actual disease is very disabling and will eventually cause death.
Symptoms of CHD and stroke
Difficulty with breathing - this may be enhanced when exercising.
Angina - severe pain in the chest normally felt during exercise.
Heart attacks (normally felt as a severe pain in the chest and arm.
High blood pressure.
Numbness and weakness of body (usually down one side).
Confusion and difficulty speaking.
Sudden bad eyesight.
Loss of balance.
What increases your risk of getting a cardiovascular disease?
- Age - the older you are the higher the risk.
- Smoking - this can increase the risk (read more here).
- High blood pressure.
- Sex - men under the age of 50 are more likely to get CHD than women,
- High salt intake.
- High blood cholesterol concentration.
- Not exercising.
- Bad diet - an lack of healthy fats.
Where are cardiovascular diseases more of a problem?
Cardiovascular diseases are more of a problem in developed countries because of the lifestyle that people live.
For instance in places like Africa there is barely any cases of cardiovascular disease because people have a lower life expectancy and might die of other diseases such as HIV/AIDS before they have the chance to develop a cardiovascular disease.
Also it is very much down to diet and lifestyle. People in developed countries are eating more and more food, the quality of which is questionable, and this foods contain a lot of salt and fat - this can also lead to cardiovascular diseases.
A lot of the time smoking is the cause for CHD and other related illnesses and in less economically developed countries they obviously do not have the money to smoke and so they are at less of a risk of developing the disease.