Scribd
Upload
5 views33 pages

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases involve conditions like hypertension, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and embolism, which can lead to serious complications such as heart attacks and strokes. Key risk factors include genetics, age, biological sex, smoking, obesity, diet, and lack of exercise. Hypertension is both a symptom and a contributing factor to cardiovascular damage, emphasizing the need for serious management.

Uploaded by

Ana Paula Caza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
5 views33 pages

Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases involve conditions like hypertension, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, and embolism, which can lead to serious complications such as heart attacks and strokes. Key risk factors include genetics, age, biological sex, smoking, obesity, diet, and lack of exercise. Hypertension is both a symptom and a contributing factor to cardiovascular damage, emphasizing the need for serious management.

Uploaded by

Ana Paula Caza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 33

Cardiovascular Diseases

Cardiovascular disease generally refers to


conditions that involve narrowed or blocked blood
vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain
or stroke.
Hypertension

“High
Blood
Pressure”
CAUSE EFFECTS Click link

● Weakening of the artery


● Resistance to the ● Rupture of vessels (especially in
blood flow leads to eyes and glomerulus)
● Artery can bulge “aneurysm” and
higher pressure on might burst

artery walls
Video Clip
Atherosclerosis

“Hardening
of Arteries”
Atherosclerosis
(a) Atherosclerosis can result from plaques formed by the buildup of fatty, calcified deposits in
an artery. (b) Plaques can also take other forms, as shown in this micrograph of a coronary
artery that has a buildup of connective tissue within the artery wall. LM × 40. (Micrograph
provided by the Regents of University of Michigan Medical School © 2012)
Normal Atherosclerosis
CAUSE
● Development of
fatty tissue
(atheroma) in the
artery wall
Endothelium
Smooth
muscle
Connective
tissue

Progression of atherosclerosis
EFFECTS
● Narrowing of the artery lumen
impedes blood flow, which
causes hypertension (high blood
pressure)
● The more blocked the artery, the
greater the risk of heart attack or
stroke.
Thrombosis
“Blood Clot”
CAUSE
● A clot of platelets,
blood cells and
proteins forms at
the site of blood
vessel damage
EFFECTS
● Narrowing of the lumen impedes
blood flow, which causes
hypertension (high blood
pressure)

● The more blocked the artery, the


greater the risk of heart attack or
stroke.
Embolism
“Traveling
Blood Clot”
CAUSE
● A piece of thrombus
(blood clot) breaks
free and is carried
through the
bloodstream
EFFECTS
● The embolism can get stuck in an
artery or vein, blocking blood flow
○ …. tissues ahead of the blockage
may die because they won’t get
the O2 or glucose from the blood

○ … blood will pool behind the


embolism because it can’t get
through the vessel
■ looks like bruising
■ looks like swelling
● Coronary arteries are branches off the aorta that
bring a blood supply to the heart muscle,
supplying O2 and glucose to the cardiac muscle
cells.
Cause

● Thrombosis and/or atherosclerosis in a coronary


artery can block blood flow to the heart muscle
cells.
● A coronary occlusion is the partial or complete
obstruction of blood flow in a coronary artery.

● Without enough O2 and glucose, the heart


Effect

muscle cells are unable to make ATP


● Without ATP the heart muscle cells can not
contract… that’s bad.
● Heart starts to spasm and may eventually stop
beating altogether.
Factors Correlated with
Cardiovascular Disease
You can SUMMARIZE the slides - you don’t need to write every single detail!
https://www.considerable.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-deaths-vs-leading-causes-death-chart/

EPIDEMIOLOGISTS study the patterns, causes and


effects of disease in populations.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death and a major


cause of disability in the United States.
About 600,000 Americans die of heart disease annually.
This represents almost 25% of all U.S. deaths.

The following factors are correlated with


development of cardiovascular disease...
GENETICS
A tendency toward heart
disease can cluster in families,
suggesting a genetic
component.

While still an area of research,


there are specific genes
associated with cardiovascular
disease development. (No
expectation that you memorize
this list!)

From the World Health Organization


AGE
Arteries naturally lose elasticity
with age. By retirement age,
70% of men and women have
cardiovascular disease, which
includes coronary artery
disease, heart failure, stroke,
and hypertension. Risk
continues to rise, and by age 80,
83% of men and an even higher
percentage of
women—87%—are affected.
Biological Sex

There is a myth that “heart disease is really a man’s problem”. Um… NO!

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women over age 65, just as it’s the
leading killer of men.

Premenopausal women have a slightly lower risk of developing cardiovascular


disease; estrogen appears to have a protective effect.
SMOKING
Smoking increases risk of
developing cardiovascular
disease.

Nicotine in cigarettes causes


vasoconstriction, which
raises blood pressure
(leading to hypertension).
OBESITY
● Obesity increases release of hormones
which trigger vasoconstriction (and
therefore raises blood pressure)
● The heart has to pump harder to get the
blood to the body, which raises blood
pressure.
● Abdominal fat puts pressure on arteries
(squeezes on them) which increases
resistance and raises blood pressure.
Remember: a rise in blood pressure is called “hypertension.”
Chronic hypertension is bad (see slide #3).
DIET
● Diet is important for
maintaining a healthy
body weight and avoiding
the cardiovascular
consequences of obesity.
● Excessive trans, and
saturated fat intake
correlates with
development of
atherosclerosis.
What about dietary cholesterol?
REVIEW FROM LIVER UNIT:

● HDL (high density lipoprotein) has


more proteins and less cholesterol
○ “healthy”
● LDL (low density lipoprotein) has
less proteins and more cholesterol
○ “lousy”
What about dietary cholesterol?
LDL cholesterol correlates with cardiovascular disease, however reducing
dietary LDL seems to have small effect on reducing cardiovascular disease.
For a long time, people thought that if you
ate less LDL cholesterol, than the amount
of LDL cholesterol in the body would
decrease. But, that’s not actually the case!

● The liver can synthesize LDL, so diet


isn’t the only source.
● Genetic factors appear to have more
influence over LDL levels than diet.
● LDL reducing drugs are more effective
in lowering the amount of cholesterol
in the blood than changing diet.
EXERCISE ...it’s good for your heart!
HYPERTENSION
Hypertension (high blood pressure) is both:

● a symptom of cardiovascular disease (see slides #8, #12, #23 and #24)
● a cause of additional damage to the cardiovascular system (see slide #3).

Chronic high blood pressure is something that should be taken seriously.

You might also like