Although fatal heart disease has fallen by 40 percent since 2004, the condition remains the No. 1 cause of death amongst men, accounting for 14 percent of deaths in 2014. It’s responsible for more than 73,000 deaths in the UK each year. About one in six men and one in 10 women die from coronary heart disease (CHD)—a condition that occurs when your heart’s blood supply is blocked or interrupted by a build-up of fatty substances in the coronary arteries.
Causes
Despite a small percentage of cases being linked to hereditary causes, the cause of heart disease for the majority who have this condition is linked to lifestyle. Here are some of the chief causes of CHD:
• diabetes
• high blood pressure (hypertension)
• high cholesterol
• obesity
• smoking
See also: Brushing teeth might prevent heart disease
Symptoms
How will I know if my heart is in trouble?
Here are some common symptoms:
• chest pain, pressure, heaviness or discomfort that lasts more than a few minutes and comes and goes
• heart palpitations—a faster-then-normal , strong, throbbing heartbeat
• overwhelming feeling of anxiety
• pain or discomfort that radiates from the chest to the stomach, neck, arms, shoulders or jaws
• shortness of breath or shallow breathing, often occurring before or during chest discomfort
• weakness, exhaustion, light-headedness, fainting, cold sweats or nausea
It is the combination of symptoms that is important in determining if a person is having a heart attack, and not the severity of chest pain.
Dr Chris advises that a heart attack is a medical emergency—if you think you or someone you know is having a heart attack, dial 999 and ask for an ambulance.
At risk
If you think you are at risk of CHD, make an appointment to see your GP. Your doctor will want to know why you think you are at risk; so, to save the doctor’s time, be prepared by having all the information about any symptoms you may have. If your doctor thinks that you are at risk, then a risk assessment will be carried out that will involve asking you about your medical history, your family’s health history, your lifestyle, with the assessment being completed with a blood test. If the assessment reveals any potential problems, you may need further tests that can include an MRI scan, CT scan, and a coronary angiograph.
Avoiding
To avoid a life-threatening heart attack, we must look carefully at our lifestyles to see what positive changes we can make, because a healthy lifestyle is the key to a healthy heart. This means eating a low-fat diet for most of the time, taking regular exercise, cutting out tobacco, drinking in moderation, and keeping our weight in check.
A diet that is high in saturated fat and cholesterol can increase the build up of plaque, a fatty substance in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. This build up will reduce the flow of blood by narrowing the vessels which, together with the plaque itself, can form a blood clot that blocks the passage. And when this happens, a heart attack or stroke can be the result. As the heart is itself a muscle, it needs physical exercise to function at top level. So, a lifestyle without sufficient regular exercise will diminish the heart’s performance.
