Here I am going to share my knowledge and research on Coronary Artery Disease but before that some preface. Since last few days I am constantly researching and wrting on heart topics and I found it very much interesting and educating. Till now I was focusing on arrhythmia and tried to dig out and share as much information as I could. My old room mates in college hostel helped me a lot who is a well established cardiologist. Another topic about heart people care about is Coronary Artery Disease. I will definitely come on Heart Attack and Heart Failure after sometime but right now I am focusing on primary and basid heart related complications.
Now lets move on to Coronary Artery Disease. I may keep sharing information in sequence of posts, so I recommend you to browse through all these posts to get the information you are looking for.
What is Coronary Artery Disease?
Coronary Artery Disease OR Coronary Heart Disease OR CHD is a medical condition with the heart where coronary arteries (blood vessels) of your heart which supply oxygen and blood to your heart will get narrowed. Coronary Artery Disease is a serious illness and it may cause death if not treated urgently.
Atherosclerosis is the root cause of Coronary Artery Disease. Atherosclerosis is a medical condition in which plaque (fat, cholesterol and calcium substance) will get accumulated on your artery walls and which makes your arteries narrowed. This will result in less blood and oxygen supply to your heart. This plaque buildup will take several years to block the arteries. Coronary Artery Disease will cause angina pectoris (chest pain), heart attack, shorter breaths and other heart problems.
As per NIH (USA), Coronary Heart Disease is a leading cause of death in America, Till 2006, above 17 million americans were affected by this disease and this was cause of death for above 4 million americans. As per NHS (UK), this was the biggest killer disease in UK and was contributing 1 death out of every 4 men and 6 women.
According to mediLexicon Medical Dictionary here is the scientific definition of Coronary Artery Disease.
“Coronary artery disease is “narrowing of the lumen of one or more of the coronary arteries, usually due to atherosclerosis; myocardial ischemia; can cause congestive heart failure, angina pectoris, or myocardial infarction.”
What are the other ways to describe Coronary Artery Disease?
People around the world use different terminologies for this heart disease so you don’t need to confuse various medical terminologies. Here are most common names by which people refer to Coronary Artery Disease.
- Narrowing of the Arteries
- Heart Disease
- Coronary Artery Disease
- Coronary Heart Disease
- CHD / CAD
- Ischemic heart disease
- Hardening of Arteries
- Atherosclerosis
What are risk factors of Coronary Artery Disease?
The risk factor is certain behavioral or lifestyle factors which increases the probability of developing a disease. Here are most common root causes and risk factors for developing Coronary Artery Disease.
- Aging one of the risk factors, anyone older than 60 years has higher probability of developing CAD
- Deficiencies of Antioxidants
- Lack of exercise and physical activity
- Sex plays important role, after the menopause male have higher risk of CAD than Female
- Obesity
- Stress
- Excess intake of saturated Fats
- High level of Cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- High level of sugar in the blood
- Having diabetes
- Consuming Alcohol
- High level of Lipoprotein
- Genetic polymorphisms/Hereditary differences
- High levels of fibrinogen and coagulation factor VII
- Type A Behavioral Patterns, TABP
- Hyperglycemia
- Hypertension
- Smoking
- Hypercholesterolemia
What causes Coronary Artery Disease?
Here is the summary of what actually happens in your heart at the time of Coronary Artery Disease.
- Injury or Damage to inner wall of Coronary Artery even during childhood
- Plaque will build up at damaged area of Coronary Artery
- These plaque / fatty deposits known as atheroma contains cholesterol and cellular waste porduct
- This accumulation of plaque is known as atherosclerosis
- Platelets will build up at area of damage, and excess build up will narrow down or sometimes block the artery
Here is the brief summary on defining Coronary Artery Disease which also covers different names used for Coronary Artery Disease followed by Risk Factors and Causes of Coronary Artery Disease.
