Coronary heart disease overview: Difference between revisions
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==Differentiating Coronary heart disease from other Diseases== | ==Differentiating Coronary heart disease from other Diseases== | ||
There are a large number of causes of [[chest pain]] that coronary heart disease must be distinguished from. | There are a large number of causes of [[chest pain]] that coronary heart disease must be distinguished from. | ||
==Epidemiology and Demographics== | |||
Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of [[cardiac arrest|sudden death]]<ref>http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1835183</ref>, and is also the most common reason for death of men and women over 20 years of age. | |||
According to present trends in the United States, half of healthy 40-year-old males will develop CHD in the future, and one in three healthy 40-year-old women.<ref>http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/115/5/e69/TBL3179728</ref> According to the Guinness Book of Records, Northern Ireland is the country with the most occurrences of CHD. | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
Revision as of 19:12, 4 January 2013
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Coronary heart disease (CHD), also called coronary artery disease (CAD), ischaemic heart disease, atherosclerotic heart disease, is a narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart. This is usually the end result of the accumulation of atheromatous plaques within the walls of the arteries that supply the myocardium (the muscle of the heart) with oxygen and nutrients. While the symptoms and signs of coronary heart disease are noted in the advanced state of disease, most individuals with coronary heart disease show no evidence of disease for decades as the disease progresses before the first onset of symptoms, often a "sudden" heart attack, finally arise. After decades of progression, some of these atheromatous plaques may rupture and (along with the activation of the blood clotting system) start limiting blood flow to the heart muscle.
Differentiating Coronary heart disease from other Diseases
There are a large number of causes of chest pain that coronary heart disease must be distinguished from.
Epidemiology and Demographics
Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of sudden death[1], and is also the most common reason for death of men and women over 20 years of age. According to present trends in the United States, half of healthy 40-year-old males will develop CHD in the future, and one in three healthy 40-year-old women.[2] According to the Guinness Book of Records, Northern Ireland is the country with the most occurrences of CHD.