Heart Disease Information

Heart disease is something that we hear about all the time. Most of us know someone who has been afflicted with heart disease, and we know the deadly consequences. 

But what exactly is heart disease?  And what is cardiovascular disease?  Is it the same as coronary artery disease?  And where do strokes fit in?  A lot of the time, people use the terms interchangeably, so I want to give you a bit of information to clarify things a bit.

When it comes to the heart, things can go wrong with the structures that pump blood out of it, the valves that are located between the chambers of the heart and keep blood flowing the correct way by only opening in one direction, the internal conduction system of the heart, and/or the coronary arteries that lie on the surface of the heart and provide it with oxygen-rich blood.   Things can also go wrong with the other blood vessels within the body, such as those in people’s legs and brains.

Heart disease is a broad term for any condition affecting the heart.  So, heart disease could be related to a heart defect that someone is born with such as a valve defect, or due to diseased coronary arteries, for example.  What is interesting to note is that not all forms of heart disease are related to eating a poor diet or lack of exercise, as in the case of someone born with a heart defect.  As well, I personally knew someone who acquired a virus without warning that affected her heart resulting in heart disease and reduced cardiac output. This was not something that she caused.  However, when you hear that you can prevent or delay heart disease, we are referring to coronary artery disease (which is disease of the coronary (heart) arteries due to atherosclerosis).  Coronary artery disease is what results in angina (chest pain caused by temporary reduction of blood flow through a coronary artery), and heart attack (complete blockage of a coronary artery).

Heart disease is also sometimes referred to as cardiovascular disease.  So what does this mean?  When you break down the word, “cardio” has to do with the heart, and “vascular” has to do with the blood vessels.  So, this really includes any condition of the heart, or blood vessels that are in other parts of the body.  For example, types of cardiovascular disease would include an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a stroke (which is a blockage of blood vessels in the brain), or even peripheral vascular disease (involves disease of the blood vessels of the legs and results in inadequate blood flow to them).  In the case of the former, this is something that is often genetic and cannot be prevented by following a healthy lifestyle.  However, stroke and peripheral vascular disease do have more to do with lifestyle (controlling such risk factors as blood pressure, atherosclerosis through making diet changes, quitting smoking, etc.).

Hopefully, this clarifies a few of the different terms, and helps you understand some of the heart disease information that you read about.