General characteristics in the last decade, there has been dramatic in the number of deaths decreased by
heart attacks. In 1970, nearly one million Americans died of cardiovascular disease, now the annual turnover is below 600,000. The cause of this improvement in mortality is unknown, but most experts believe that it awareness of cardiovascular risk factors and their correction have played an important role in reducing the number of deaths.
What are the risks?
Finally, more than half of all Americans will develop some form of heart disease. The most common is a hardening of the arteries caused by the accumulation of fatty deposits in the garrison of the vessel. This is a slow process that usually takes years to become a serious illness. If the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle are converted in severely blocked by fatty deposits, symptoms of heart disease alert may appear. These include difficulty breathing, relieved by rest, or a combination of both (angina pectoris) chest pains. In many people, however, there are no warnings the first symptom of heart disease can be a heart attack. It is therefore important to identify and correct potential risk factors before you get to this stage.
In recent years, several of these risk factors have been identified. Some of them, such as age, sex, and family history of heart disease are things about which we have no control. There are also a number of factors that can be modified or deleted, but such action appears to reduce the portability of a heart attack. The three most important controllable risk factors are high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol in the blood, and smoking. In fact, many experts attribute the recent decline in mortality from cardiovascular diseases to the fact that most people never are being treated for high blood pressure. Changes in the American diet that have reduced consumption of butter, eggs and animal fat and consequently dropped the average cholesterol in the blood and a reduction in smoking middle-aged men also assigned them the toll reduction. Since likely to develop heart disease increases when two or more risk factors are present, the modification of the controllable helps reduce the risk of those for which we have no control.
Role of dietary studies have shown that populations whose diets are cholesterol-rich and animal fats and other dairy products have more heart attacks than those whose diets are low in these saturated fat. Americans, whose diets are high in the meat and eggs, have a higher incidence of heart disease than the Japanese ending eat very little meat and other animal by-products and milk fats.
Studies have also shown that high cholesterol more than 200 milligrams per millilitre of blood can be reduced by changing your diet. This means eating more fish and poultry, while reducing the consumption of red meat, eggs, butter milk fats and others and increase consumption of fruits, vegetables and cereals. Substituting polyunsaturated oils (corn, safflower, sunflower oil, for example) cooking pork or hardened butter and margarine on whose label indicates a high proportion of polyunsaturated that saturated (for example, 4-2) instead of butter fat or margarines with less favourable rates using butter (e.g. equality or 2-3) also help cholesterol in the blood.
High blood pressure people with blood pressure high role have a sharp increase in heart attacks and strokes. The cause of high blood pressure is unknown, but can usually be downloaded by the use of drugs antihypertensive, reduced salt consumption, and the weight loss in overweight people. Controlling high blood pressure is an important preventive measure because it increases the workload of the heart and also contributes directly to the hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis).
Role of cigarette smoking
Since 1964, when the Director General of Health reported that average cigarette smokers had 70 percent of non-smokers, many other studies have confirmed that smoking is a major risk factor heart attack. This risk increases with the number of cigarettes smoked, and recent studies found that low content of tar, the low nicotine cigarettes hae does not reduce the risk of heart disease. Quitting smoking is now considered one of the best things you can do to help prevent a heart attack.
Other sedentary lifestyle risk factors. Despite evidence that links to a sedentary life style to a greater chance of heart disease is indirect, physically active people are known to have higher coronary arteries that probably would not be so likely obstruction than sedentary people.
Type A personality. In recent years, a broad debate has focused on the relationship between the personality type, characterized by anxiety, impatience and perfectionism, and the risk of a heart attack. Although many evaluations have confirmed this relationship, the scientific evidence linking definitely personality type and the development of heart disease is to come.
Diabetes. People with diabetes, a serious condition in which the body cannot regulate their sugar (glucose), blood have a higher incidence of coronary artery disease and heart attacks. The incidence increases further if you diabetic have other risk factors.
Obesity. the Framingham study recently concluded only obesity increases the risk of diseases of the heart - a hypothesis that has been debated for years. Since obesity often manifests itself with hypertension, diabetes, and a sedentary lifestyle, weight control is an important factor in reducing coronary risk factors.
Sex and age. Some risk factors, such as age and ageing and the sex of a person are inevitable. Statistics show that men under the age of 45 have 10 times more likely to develop women's coronary artery disease in the same age group. Between the ages of 45 to 60 years, however, the sexual difference decreases. After age 60, the incidence of coronary artery disease is almost equally distributed between men and women.
A family history. An inherited susceptibility is a significant risk that cannot be avoided. Some events, such as high blood pressure or a hereditary tendency to have high blood cholesterol in the blood (Familial Hypercholesterolemia) can be controlled with medications and diet.
Recap the link between heart disease and certain risk factors, such as high cholesterol, hypertension and smoking, has been established by many studies. Since the coronary artery disease is the leading cause of death (from heart attacks) in the United States, prevention takes on special importance. Reduction of fat in the diet, the cessation of smoking, high blood pressure control, weight loss and exercise are the measures to help curb the development of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease and reduce the risk of heart attack.
