This disease condition is also called coronary heart disease. The disease affects the arteries of the heart. In this case, blood flowing through the heart and other parts of the circulatory system has cholesterol and fats among other materials. These materials get deposited on the walls of the arteries, of which the coronary arteries are no exception. This results in the narrowing of the vessel lumen in addition  to thickening of the walls. As a result, blood flow is restricted, compromising oxygen supply to the heart muscle. Such a phenomenon can result in a heart attack.

Risk Factors for Coronary Heart Disease

History of arteriosclerosis. The presence of arteriosclerosis in the blood vessels in other parts of the body except the heart can be a risk to coronary arteries as well.

High blood pressure. This condition isn’t only a risk factor for coronary heart disease but also other heart diseases and diabetes.

1. Individuals who come from families that have cases of coronary heart disease are at  an increased risk of getting the disease. The reason is that this condition is genetically linked and can flow from one generation to the other, following family lines.

Lifestyle. Having some habits in life can predispose an individual to coronary heart disease. For instance, excess alcohol intake and smoking are associated with the disease predisposition. More so, people who don’t do regular physical exercises like the ones who lead a sedentary lifestyle have a higher chance of developing the disease. In addition to that, what you eat can be a contributing factor concerning heart disease. People who eat an unhealthy diet like foods rich in cholesterol increase their risk of getting this heart disease plus other lifestyle diseases like hypertension and diabetes.

1. This condition, as well as obesity, is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular diseases of which coronary heart disease is no exception.
2. Men are riskier than women in getting the disease. On the other hand, a woman’s probability, of getting the disease, is higher after menopause.

Signs and Symptoms of Coronary Heart Disease

When the disease isn’t worse, it can be asymptomatic, meaning that it doesn’t present with any symptoms. Angina is the most  devastating symptom that first ensues. The angina pain radiates to the back, neck, and the left shoulder. The pain comes when the heart muscle gets a small amount of oxygen due to restriction of blood flow in coronary vessels. Women have more severe symptoms of radiating pain than men. Fatigability may also present, which often comes together with shortness of breath in patients with this disease.

Diagnosis of Coronary Heart Disease

Gathering of both subjective and objective data can be instrumental in determining the diagnosis of the disease condition. The data can be obtained by health care workers through taking a detailed history and doing a thorough physical examination. In addition to that, exercise stress test, electrocardiogram, echocardiogram stress test and nuclear stress tests are some of the objective tests that can determine the disease diagnosis.

Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease

There are three approaches that can be used in treating the disease. They include pharmacotherapy, surgical therapy and lifestyle alteration. The approaches can be used independently or in some cases; they may  be applied together. For instance, pharmacotherapy can be used alone, but at times, it can go hand in hand with surgery.

Pharmacotherapy

In this intervention, medications are the mainstay of the treatment of the disease.  The medications are prescribed by doctors or other relevant health care providers basing on the disease presentation and its cause. In the case of hypertension as a risk factor or cause of the disease, then antihypertensive drugs play a key role in the treatment. Some of the antihypertensives are beta-blockers, calcium channel blockers and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. On the other hand, statins can be important if the cause is due to excessive cholesterol in the blood because these drugs lower cholesterol levels in the blood. Angina pain treatment focuses on the use of nitrates.

Surgery

Some of the surgical procedures for this disease are coronary artery bypass, minimally invasive heart surgery and stent placement and angioplasty. The choice of the procedure depends on the disease condition and hospital facilities available, among other things.

Lifestyle modification

With the use of this kind of intervention, patients are advised to adopt lifestyle measures that aim at preventing further progress of the disease. An individual should eat a healthy, balanced diet free from cholesterol and with salt restrictions. More so, the individual should do regular physical exercises. In the case of an underlying lifestyle disease, then the patient should ensure that the disease is treated and control to avoid further complication of coronary heart disease. Some of the underlying diseases that can be treated include hypertension, obesity and diabetes. In general, the aim, of modifying the patient’s lifestyle, is to reduce or alleviate the risk factors for the disease.