The Occurrence of Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number one worldwide killer of both men and women. This disease is responsible for 40 percent of all the deaths in the United States, more than all the forms of cancer combined. Many types of heart disease can be both prevented and treated. Most of these treatments involve healthy lifestyle changes, good diet and plenty of exercise.

Definition

• Heart disease or cardiopathy is a term that covers a wide variety of different conditions and diseases that affect the heart. Heart disease is any condition that affects the heart's ability to function normally. This may involve narrowed or blocked blood vessels, which can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke.

Rates

• Before advanced age, death rates from heart disease are higher among blacks than whites. Black females have a death rate 35 percent higher than white females. In ages under 75, the black female death rate from heart disease is more than 71 percent higher than that of white women.

  The occurrence of heart disease and death rates are higher at the lower levels of the socioeconomic ladder. The greatest improvements in mortality rates from heart disease are seen in the highest levels of income and education.

AHA Position

• The American Heart Association (AHA) has determined certain factors that increase the risk of heart disease. Tobacco smoking significantly increases the risk of heart disease. Stress has also been associated with heart disease, but so far to what extent is not known. Nevertheless, the more risk factors you have, the higher the chances are that you will develop heart disease.

Unavoidable Factors

• Some major risk factors such as increasing age cannot be changed. According to the AHA, "over 83 percent of people who die of coronary heart disease are 65 or older." At an increased age, when a woman has a heart attack she is more likely to die within a few weeks, while men tend to survive longer. Men, though, have a greater risk of heart attack than women, and they often have them earlier in life.

  The heredity factor cannot be changed. If you have parents who suffer from heart disease, you have a higher chance of developing the disease.

  More African Americans than Caucasianstend suffer from high blood pressure (hypertension), which increases the risk of heart disease.

Modifiable Factors

• There are major risk factors that you can treat or control by changing your lifestyle. One of these is smoking. A "smoker's risk of developing coronary heart disease is 2 to 4 times that of nonsmokers," according to the American Heart Association. So quit smoking to lower your risk of heart disease.

  Nonsmokers who are routinely exposed to secondhand smoke have an increased risk of the disease. High cholesterol and high blood pressure both increase the amount of work the heart has to do, hence increasing the risk of an attack or other heart conditions.

  Physical activity to lose weight is important in the prevention of heart disease. Moderate to intense activity will help control your blood pressure and avoid obesity, another risk factor. Excess body fat raises your blood pressure and cholesterol, both serious factors that contribute to the occurrence of heart disease.