Cardiovascular disease refers to any disease affecting the circulatory system, especially the heart and  the blood vessels. Atherosclerosis and high blood pressure are the major causes of cardiovascular diseases. These diseases can affect other body organs other than the heart and blood vessels. Some of the organs affected are the kidney and the brain.

Types of Cardiovascular Diseases

• Coronary heart disease. It is also called ischemic or coronary heart disease. The disease affects the coronary arteries in such a way that they become narrow or blocked because of plaque deposition on their walls.
• Cardiomegaly. People who have this disease have their heart enlarged abnormally sometimes because of the excessive work the heart does in order to pump blood after an underlying condition. Conditions like hypertension and valvular diseases can force the heart to overwork so as to get the blood pumped.
• Congenital heart diseases. Examples of this kind of diseases include heart septal defects and congenital valvular disease. The defects come as a result of the use of drugs, alcohol and smoking by pregnant women. Drugs like thalidomide and cocaine are a common cause of congenital heart diseases in newborns of mothers who used them during the pregnancy period.
• Heart attack. This heart disease comes about when the heart muscles fails to get adequate oxygen supply because of coronary heart disease. The cardiac muscle that fails to get oxygen undergoes infarction resulting in a heart attack. That explains why the disease is also  called acute myocardial infarction.
• Infectious diseases of the circulatory system. These diseases originate from the pathogenic organism infections. Some of the diseases caused by infections are myocarditis,  endocarditis, and pericarditis. Rheumatic heart disease and vasculitis are known to occur secondary to infections.
• Peripheral arterial disease. This disease affects blood vessels of the legs and arms compromising blood supply to this very parts that they supply.
• Cerebrovascular disease. This disease is very fatal, and it affects the blood vessels that supply the brain. Once they vessels get affected, conditions like stroke may ensue, like a complication.
• Pulmonary heart disease. The disease affects the right side of the heart. In addition, the pulmonary system gets affected, hence its name.

In summary, cardiovascular diseases are those diseases that affect the heart and the blood vessels (the cardiovascular system).

Cardiovascular diseaseFirst Author
(Year) Conceptual Framework Design/Method Sample & Setting Major Variables Studied (and their Definitions) Measurement Data Analysis Findings Appraisal: Worth to Practice
Allesoe (2010)
Examine the effect of job influence and work pressure on the development of (IHD)Ischaemic heart disease in women.
Questionnaires given to women participating in Danish Nurse Cohort Study.
In total, 12,116 participants were examined between the ages of 45 to 64 years, in 1993. This was followed by specific linkages to the National Register of Hospital Discharges
Job influence, work pressure, demographic factors, occupational characteristics and known behavioral and biological risk factors for IHD were gathered at baseline.
95% CI 1.04 to 1.81 (95% CI 1.04 to 1.81) 1.4-fold greater risk of incident IHD for high work pressure nurses as compared to those nurses with suitable work pressure Effect was significant among younger nurses. No association between IHD and job influence.

Cardiovascular disease is a prominent threat to a woman’s health and well-being
Jackson (2014)
Explore how older rural women identify symptoms and make health decisions specific to heart attack Snowball sampling 33 women, ages 65 years or older from rural areas of Midwestern USA.
Age, lifestyle, education and area of residence.
Content Analysis. Women wrongly identify heart attack symptoms and often confuse them with sleep problems. Educational programs are needed to create awareness and make women know about the actual symptoms. This is important to study to reduce the burden of diseases on women in the rural areas.

Kyungwon Oh (2005) Explore the effect of dietary fat intake on the impending Coronary Heart Disease risk in women. Sampling and 20 year follow up. Studied 78778 US women and followed the women up for 20 years to realize 1766 incidents of Coronary Heart Disease. Age, Lifestyle, Diet 95% CI 0.60, 0.92 For polyunsaturated fat, RR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.85; ptrend = 0.002 and for trans-fat, RR = 1.50, 95% CI: 1.13, 2.00; ptrend = 0.01) There is a considerably high inverse relation between CHD risk and polyunsaturated fat intake in overweight and younger women. Diet is a considerable contributor to the CHD risk in US women. The intake of polyunsaturated fats should be regulated especially where the Body Mass Index is not in the safe range.
Jarett (2012) Studied the lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease both in black women and white women in comparison to the men from the same strata. Individual level meta-analysis using data arising from 18 cohort studies. In total, 18 cohort studies involving a total of 257,384 black men and women and white men and women whose risk factors for cardiovascular disease were measured at the ages of 45, 55, 65, and 75 years. Gender, Age, lifestyle including smoking and drinking.
95% CI 1.04 to 1.81
participants with two or more major risk factors (4.7% vs. 29.6% among men, 6.4% vs. 20.5% among women) had lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease. The more the risk factors the more the likelihood of a patient dying from cardio-vascular disease Differences in risk-factor burden translate into marked differences in the lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, and these differences are consistent across race and birth cohorts
Dawber (2015) Explore the Coronary heart disease in the Framingham study
Snowball sampling
6510 participants were recruited to participate and undergo observation for a period of twenty years
Environmental factors, personal factors that include Age, lifestyle, education and gender
The risk of ASHD has a direct association with the personal factors of obesity, smoking and high cholesterol intake X2=25, n=4 p<0.001 Prevalence rates of ASHD in men and women are similar for the first 4 decades but there is a general increase in the rate in men tending towards 60 years.
Major hallmarks will be achieved if personal risk factors like weight and obesity, lifestyle trends and primary diseases that are risk factors for Cardiac Heart disease are handled.

References
Allesoe, K., Hundrup, Y. A., Thomsen, J. F., & Osler, M.. (2010). Psychosocial work environment and risk of ischaemic heart disease in women: the Danish Nurse Cohort Study. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 67(5), 318–322. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27797764
Berry, J. D., Dyer, A., Cai, X., Garside, D. B., Ning, H., Thomas, A., … & Lloyd-Jones, D. M. (2012).Lifetime risks of cardiovascular disease.New England Journal of Medicine, 366(4), 321-329.
Dawber, T. R., Moore, F. E., & Mann, G. V. (2015). II. Coronary heart disease in the Framingham study. International journal of epidemiology, 44(6), 1767-1780.
Jackson, M. N. G., & McCulloch, B. (2014). ‘Heart attack’ symptoms and decision-making: the case of older rural women. Rural and Remote Health, 14, 2560
James, P. A., Oparil, S., Carter, B. L., Cushman, W. C., Dennison-Himmelfarb, C., Handler, J., … & Smith, S. C. (2014). 2014 evidence-based guide for the effective management of HBP in adults: the report of the panel committee seconded to the 8th Joint National Committee (JNC 8). Jama, 311(5), 507-520.
Oh, K., Hu, F. B., Manson, J. E., Stampfer, M. J., & Willett, W. C. (2005). Dietary fat intake and risk of coronary heart disease in women: 20 years of follow-up of the nurses’ health study. American Journal of Epidemiology, 161(7), 672-679.