Practice prevention to avoid getting the disease

Coronary heart disease is the most common type of heart disease. Despite decreases in the mortality rate of patients with coronary heart disease, it is still the No. 1 killer, causing the deaths of more than half a million men and women in the United States annually – more than all types of cancer combined and more than respiratory diseases, stroke and all accidents combined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The American Heart Association describes coronary heart disease as the common term for a buildup of plaque in the arteries of the heart that could lead to a heart attack. Plaque is a sticky, waxy substance that consists of fat, cholesterol, calcium, brin (a clotting component in the blood) and other substances, which coagulate and stick to the walls of blood vessels, building up over time. When this buildup narrows the opening, slowing the ow of blood through the body, this condition is called atherosclerosis. If the plaque breaks open the wall of the artery and the body forms a blood clot that blocks the ow of blood, a heart attack occurs; whatever cardiac muscle tissue was being fed oxygen and nutrients from that artery begin to die, resulting in permanent heart damage.

Coronary heart disease differs between men and women in the disease’s onset and symptoms.

Men suffer from coronary heart disease at an earlier age than women due to their tendency toward higher blood pressure, higher cholesterol and greater likelihood they are smokers. And because men are less likely to seek medical care for these conditions, they are more likely to get worse sooner.

According to a spokesman for the American Heart Association, in a study of people under age 60 who died a sudden, premature death, 95 percent of them were men and virtually all of those had heart disease. Despite having personal physicians and medical insurance, these men rarely took advantage of them.

The American Heart Association lists several risk factors, which outline a person’s chances of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease:

• Age. Your risk of CHD increases as you get older.

• Family history. A family history of heart disease increases your risk. Children of CHD patients should be screened for, possible familial/genetic predisposition toward CHD causes such as diabetes and high cholesterol levels.

• Smoking. It constricts and damages blood vessels.

• Poor diet. Excess cholesterol, salt and fat each contribute to heart disease.

• High blood pressure. It can result in hardening and narrowing of arteries.

• High blood cholesterol levels increase the formation of plaques.

• Diabetes. It increases one’s risk of heart disease, and is also caused or exacerbated by poor diet, obesity and lack of physical activity.

• Obesity worsens other risk factors. • Physical inactivity worsens other risk factors.

Dr. Robert T. Lafargue, F. A. C. C., medical director for cardiac rehab for Willis-Knighton, insists that everyone should be especially aware of their personal risk factors, and points out that some of these risk factors are not under a person’s control (such as age and family history).

Some can be treated with medications (blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol), and others are more directly under our personal control. He suggests patients should be most concerned about:

• Maintaining a healthy weight and diet;

• Staying on a regular exercise program approved by a physician;

• Control sugar and salt intake, and avoid fast food;

• Getting regular medical checkups, reporting any symptoms (don’t try to self-diagnose);

• Having periodic blood studies run;

• Taking medication, if prescribed, for cholesterol, blood pressure or diabetes.

“If we don’t practice prevention, think of all the people that are going to get the disease, and the horse is out of the barn, then – and you have to undo all that stuff, so why not practice prevention first, and not get the disease?” The American Heart Association recommends that all men should be familiar with these heart attack symptoms:

• Chest pain or discomfort that can feel like pressure or “squeezing” sensation;

• Discomfort, aching, or pain in the shoulders, arms, chin, neck, jaw, back or stomach;

• Shortness of breath or light-headedness;

• Nausea or sweating; or

• Abdominal discomfort that may feel like indigestion or gall bladder problems.

Lafargue said that particular attention should be paid to these symptoms when they occur alongside one of the 3 “E’s” – exercise, emotional stress and eating – because these speed up the heart rate, and if the heart isn’t getting enough blood ow, it will produce and worsen these symptoms.