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Cardiovascular Disease: What Causes Coronary Heart Disease

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The term “cardiovascular disease” is often used reciprocally with the term “heart disease.” Cardiovascular disease broadly refers to the disease involving the heart and blood vessels. It generally includes diseases such as, heart attack, stroke, congestive heart failure and many others. Indeed, CVD affects the heart and it’s main functions such as the cardiovascular system, the pulmonary circulation and the systematic circulation. The pulmonary circulation’s main function is to pump oxygen-poor blood towards the lungs and pumps oxygen-rich blood to the right side of the heart. Whereas the systematic circulation is the opposite, it pumps oxygen-rich blood to the body and pumps oxygen-poor blood to the left side of the heart. The underlying process …show more content…

According to Teague, author of the textbook Your Health Today, “An estimated 16.3 million Americans are living with CHD [and] those who survive a heart attack are often left with damaged hearts and significantly altered lives” (316). Clearly, coronary heart disease affects numerous families and individuals and it is a worldwide disease. So, what causes coronary heart disease? As a coronary artery becomes blocked with plaque, a condition called ischemia is developed. Ischemia condition refers to the lack of oxygen supply and nutrients in the heart muscle due to a narrowed or blocked artery. However, if the artery is completely blocked, an individual has a myocardial infarction; which is the insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle, in simpler terms, a heart attack. The blockage and narrowing of an artery may be the result of plaque that has broken loose or a formation of a blood clot, which can cause coronary thrombosis, which may cause sudden death. Ultimately, a heart attack occurs when during a lack of oxygen blood flow to the heart muscle is reduced or cut off due to the blockage of arteries with …show more content…

It even attacked my family numerous times. In February 2017, my great grandmother at the age of ninety-four experience her first TIA. It was a very scary situation because after ninety-four years, that was the first situation she experienced regarding her health. A couple of years ago, I lost both of my grandparents due to heart disease, which is why I chose to explore this specific topic. In doing so, I learned a great amount of information regarding the disease. Both of my grandfathers lived in the Philippines where healthy food is hard to come by. Their cholesterol levels were at an increasingly dangerous level and they did not maintain a healthy lifestyle. In today’s society, especially in California, we are fortunate enough to have healthy food easily available for us to consume. We are exposed and encouraged to live a healthier lifestyle, but other countries do not have to same resources we have. That is why it is important to learn and research this disease. With our technology today, we are able to run tests in order to predict if there is an underlying disease. With healthy food available, we are able to maintain our health and prevent CVD. My family was greatly affected by CVD numerous times, it is time to take measures into our own hands to prevent the disease and prolong our

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