CORONARY HEART DISEASE

Coronary Heart Disease also known as CHD is a narrowing of the small blood vessel that supply blood and oxygen to the heart.
Coronary heart disease is usually caused by a condition called atheroscelerosis ( a condition which occurs when fatty material and other substances form a plaque build-up on the walls of your arteries). This causes them to get narrow. As the coronary arteries narrow, blood flow to the heart can slow down or stop. This can cause chest pain (stable angina), shortness of breath, heart attack, and other symptoms, usually when you are active.
Several factors increase the risk for heart disease, among them is;

• Heredity :- Bad genes can increase your risk. You are more likely to develop the condition if someone in your family has a history of heart disease — especially if they had it before age 50. Your risk for CHD goes up the older you get.
• Smokers have a much higher risk of heart disease than nonsmokers.
• High blood pressure increases your risks of coronary artery disease and heart failure.
• Abnormal Cholesterol Levels :- your Low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) should be as low as possible, and your High-density lipoprotein (good cholesterol) should be as high as possible to reduce your risk of CHD.
• Other risk factors include alcohol abuse, not getting enough exercise, and having excessive amounts of stress.

Higher-than-normal levels of inflammation-related substances, such as C-reactive protein ( produced by the liver. The level of CRP rises when there is inflammation throughout the body) and fibrinogen (also protein produced by the liver. This protein helps stop bleeding by helping blood clots to form) are being studied as possible indicators of an increased risk for heart disease.
Symptoms of CHD may be very noticeable, but sometimes you can have the disease and not have any symptoms.

Chest pain or discomfort (angina) is the most common symptom. You feel this pain when the heart is not getting enough blood or oxygen. How bad the pain is varies from person to person.

• It may feel heavy or like someone is squeezing your heart. You feel it under your breast bone (sternum), but also in your neck, arms, stomach, or upper back.
• The pain usually occurs with activity or emotion, and goes away with rest or a medicine called nitroglycerin.
• Other symptoms include shortness of breath and fatigue with activity (exertion).

Women, elderly people, and people with diabetes are more likely to have symptoms other than chest pain, such as:

• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath
• Weakness