Cardiovascular Conditions
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term that
describes a disease of the heart or blood vessels.
There are four main types of CVD:
coronary heart
disease, stroke, peripheral arterial disease and aortic disease
Coronary heart disease- Coronary heart disease (CHD) occurs
when your heart's blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty
substances (atheroma) in the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries are the
two major blood vessels that supply your heart with blood. 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.
Stroke- A stroke is a serious medical condition that occurs
when the blood supply to the brain is disturbed. Like all organs, your brain
needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients to function properly. This is
provided by the blood, so if your blood flow is restricted or stopped, brain
cells will begin to die. This can lead to brain damage and possibly death. Therefore,
a stroke is a medical emergency and prompt treatment is essential. The sooner a
person receives treatment, the less damage is likely to occur. The main stroke
symptoms can be remembered with the word FAST which stands for:
Face – the face
may have drooped on one side, the person may not be able to smile or their
mouth or eye may have drooped
Arms – the person
with suspected stroke may not be able to lift their arm and keep it raised due
to weakness or numbness
Speech – the
person's speech may be slurred or garbled, or they may not be able to talk at
all despite appearing to be awake
Time – it is time
to dial 999 immediately if you see any of these signs or symptoms
Peripheral arterial disease- Peripheral arterial disease,
also known as peripheral vascular disease, occurs when there is a blockage in
the arteries to your limbs (usually your legs). The most common symptom of
peripheral arterial disease is pain in your legs when walking. This is usually
in one or both of your thighs, hips or calves. The pain can feel like cramp, a
dull pain or a sensation of heaviness in the muscles of your legs. It usually
comes and goes and gets worse during exercise that uses your legs, such as
walking or climbing stairs.
Aortic disease- The aorta is the largest blood vessel in the
body. It carries blood from your heart to the rest of your body. The most
common type of aortic disease is aortic aneurysm, which is where the wall of
the aorta becomes weakened and bulges outwards. You will usually experience
pain in your chest, back or abdomen (tummy). [ extracted from http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cardiovascular-disease/pages/introduction.aspx
]
KEY FACTS about CVDs
CVDs are the
number one cause of death globally: more people die annually from CVDs than
from any other cause (1).
An estimated 17.3
million people died from CVDs in 2008, representing 30% of all global
deaths(1). Of these deaths, an estimated 7.3 million were due to coronary heart
disease and 6.2 million were due to stroke (2).
Low- and
middle-income countries are disproportionally affected: over 80% of CVD deaths
take place in low- and middle-income countries and occur almost equally in men
and women (1).
The number of
people who die from CVDs, mainly from heart disease and stroke, will increase
to reach 23.3. million by 2030 (1,3). CVDs are projected to remain the single
leading cause of death (3).
Most
cardiovascular diseases can be prevented by addressing risk factors such as
tobacco use, unhealthy diet and obesity, physical inactivity, high blood
pressure, diabetes and raised lipids.
9.4 million deaths
each year, or 16.5% of all deaths can be attributed to high blood pressure (4).
This includes 51% of deaths due to strokes and 45% of deaths due to coronary
heart disease (5).
books
According to the World Health Organization[ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/
]
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) include:
coronary heart
disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle;
cerebrovascular
disease - disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain;
peripheral
arterial disease – disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs;
rheumatic heart
disease – damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from rheumatic fever,
caused by streptococcal bacteria;
congenital heart
disease - malformations of heart structure existing at birth;
deep vein
thrombosis and pulmonary embolism – blood clots in the leg veins, which can
dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.
Heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are
mainly caused by a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or
brain. The most common reason for this is a build-up of fatty deposits on the
inner walls of the blood vessels that supply the heart or brain. Strokes can
also be caused by bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain or from blood
clots.
What are the risk factors for cardiovascular disease?
The most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease
and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use
of alcohol. Behavioural risk factors are responsible for about 80% of coronary
heart disease and cerebrovascular disease (1). The effects of unhealthy diet
and physical inactivity may show up in individuals as raised blood pressure,
raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids, and overweight and obesity. These
“intermediate risks factors” can be measured in primary care facilities and
indicate an increased risk of developing a heart attack, stroke, heart failure
and other complications. Cessation of tobacco use, reduction of salt in the
diet, consuming fruits and vegetables, regular physical activity and avoiding
harmful use of alcohol have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular
disease. The cardiovascular risk can also be reduced by preventing or treating
hypertension, diabetes and raised blood lipids.
Rheumatic heart disease is caused by damage to the heart
valves and heart muscle from the inflammation and scarring caused by rheumatic
fever. Rheumatic fever is caused by streptococcal bacteria, which usually
begins as a sore throat or tonsillitis in children. -Rheumatic fever mostly
affects children in developing countries, especially where poverty is
widespread. Globally, almost 2% of deaths from cardiovascular diseases is
related to rheumatic heart disease, while 42% of deaths from cardiovascular
diseases is related to ischaemic heart disease, and 34% to cerebrovascular
disease (2).
Symptoms of rheumatic heart disease- Symptoms of rheumatic heart disease
include: shortness of breath, fatigue, irregular heart beats, chest pain and
fainting.[ extracted from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/
].
For more information on the topic including, symptoms, and
managing the disease see the World Health Organization Website.( http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/)
A link to a downloadable pdf of non communicable diseases include
heart diseases on Zimbabwe. http://www.google.co.zw/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEwQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Fnmh%2Fcountries%2Fzwe_en.pdf&ei=sqCaU--6GaOf0QXI6YCoCw&usg=AFQjCNE0PwyfjAtGYxZ21FM1C4Y5NHqn8A&sig2=9XsYzwvtLfpLeU40faLASA&bvm=bv.68911936,d.d2k
Profile and High Prevalence of Cardiovascular Risk Fact in
Zimbabwe http://www.google.co.zw/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEwQFjAD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Fnmh%2Fcountries%2Fzwe_en.pdf&ei=sqCaU--6GaOf0QXI6YCoCw&usg=AFQjCNE0PwyfjAtGYxZ21FM1C4Y5NHqn8A&sig2=9XsYzwvtLfpLeU40faLASA&bvm=bv.68911936,d.d2k
Related topics
Chronic diseases
Diet and
physical exercise
Nutrition
Obesity
Social
determinants of health
Tobacco
WEBSITES
National heart, lung and blood institute website covers
Health Topics such
as Heart and Vascular Diseases, Lung Diseases, Blood Diseases. This website provides detailed information
on Asthma
Blood disease such
as anemia, and von willebrand diseases, cholesterol, Congenital Heart Defects, Heart Attack, High Blood Pressure
Lung Diseases, Other Heart and Blood Vessel Diseases, Obesity and Physical Activity. These can be
downloaded
from their webpage at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/pubs/pub_gen.htm
PDF, html and print copies the above documents.
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
2.
BMC Cardiovascular Disorders offers free access to journals
and articles on all aspects of the prevention, diagnosis and management of
disorders of the heart and circulatory system, as well as related molecular and
cell biology, genetics, pathophysiology, epidemiology, and controlled trials. Cardiovascular surgery, Coronary artery disease, Epidemiology, Hypertension and Cardiovascular
Risk, Non-coronary artery cardiac
disease
3. emedicine: Medscape specialty:
Cardiology
This site contains up-to-date clinical information on
numerous cardiovascular diseases. This website covers coronary artery diseases,
endocarditis, vascular diseases of the heart, heart failure, cardiac
dysrhythmias, vascular disorders, congenital heart disorders, blood disorders.
It gives a description of the medical problem, epidemiology, pathophysiology,
presentation indications and contraindications of these conditions. A good
source worth looking up.
http://emedicine.medscape.com/cardiolog
some books you can read or download on the internet on cardiovascular disease
It documents the magnitude of the problem, using global
cardiovascular mortality and morbidity data. It demonstrates the inequities in
access to protection, exposure to risk, and access to care as the cause of
major inequalities between countries and populations in the occurrence and
outcome of CVDs. The report has graphs showing mortality rates of CVDs by age,
by country/region, and is divided into three main sections:
Section A:
Cardiovascular diseases due to atherosclerosis
S Section C:
Prevention and control of CVDs: Policies, strategies and interventions.
Section B: Other cardiovascular diseases
This website contains free books to read online and down
load on cardiology on this website http://www.freebookcentre.net/medical_text_books_journals/cardiology_texts_journals_online_download.html
Some interesting books include
BMC cardiovascular
disorders at this link http://www.freebookcentre.net/medical_books_download/gotoweb.php?id=5365
The Cardiovascular History and Physical Examination (PDF
28P) download using this link from the free book centre http://www.freebookcentre.net/medical_books_download/The-Cardiovascular-History-and-Physical-Examination-(PDF-28P).html
Braunwald Atlas of Heart Diseases download at http://www.freebookcentre.net/medical_books_download/Braunwald-Atlas-of-Heart-Diseases.html
For these any many more books on cardiovascular disease
visit this website it has a number of free access medical books besides the above on heart disease
Mpilo Library Collection
books in our library
1. Handbook of the cardiac patient by Dr S K Surrun . Located at RC667
SUR -
-covers function and structure of the heart, signs of heart
disease, cardiac investigations, congenital heart disease, rheumatic fever,
rheumatic valvular disease, heart attack, hypertension and the heart, heart
failure, cardiac operations, and prevention o heart disease.
2. Preventive
cardiology: a companion to Braunwald’s heart disease by R S Blumenthal, J M Foody and N D Wong. Located at RC685 BLU
-covers assessment of risk, atherothrombosis and antiplatelet
therapy, blood pressure, cholesterol, dyslipidemia , diet and life style,
diabetes, exercise, emotional aspects.
3. Cardiovascular
disease and HRT: New perspectives / edited by G Samsioe
4. heart disease; a
textbook of cardiovascular medicine by E Braunwald. Located at RC681.H362-
-comprehensive book on heart disease. Covers most topics in
detail, such as pathophysiology of heart failure, drugs, management, pulmonary hypertension, diseases
of the heart pericardium, aorta, pulmonary , congenital heart diseases in
adult, infancy and childhood, valvular heart disease, pathogenesis of
atherosclerosis , artery disease, diseases of the aorta, genetics and
cardiovascular disease, heart disease and pegnanacy, nutrition, rheumatic
diseases, hematologic, neurologic disorders, renal disorders.
5. cardiac intensive
care/ edited by Allen Jeremias, David L Brown. Located at RC684.C36-
- covers cardiac
intensive care, heart disease therapy , intensive care methods. Coronary
physiology and pathophysiology, pathophysiology of acute coronary syndromes:
plaque rupture and atherothrombosis, regulation of hemostasis and thrombosis,
coronary artery disease, hypertension emergencies, acute aortic syndrome, pulmonary
hypertension, acute heart failure, actuate vailvular heart disease
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