A List of Cardiovascular Diseases: The 5 Most Common

High blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, and smoking are key risk factors for heart disease. Several other medical conditions and lifestyle choices can also put people at a higher risk for heart disease, including: Diabetes. Overweight and obesity.

About half of all Americans (47%) have at least 1 of 3 key risk factors for heart disease: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking. Some risk factors for heart disease cannot be controlled, such as your age or family history.

1. Heart Attack. A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, usually tops the list of cardiovascular diseases in the United States — statistically and anecdotally.
2. Stroke.
3. Heart Failure.
4. Arrhythmia.
5. Heart Valve Complications.

Symptoms

• Chest pain, chest tightness, chest pressure and chest discomfort (angina)
• Shortness of breath.
• Pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed.
• Pain in the neck, jaw, throat, upper abdomen or back.

There are four main types of CVD:

• coronary heart disease.
• stroke.
• peripheral arterial disease.
• aortic disease.

Heart disease is the same thing as cardiac disease, but it is not the same thing as cardiovascular disease (CVD). Cardio refers to the heart and vascular refers to all the blood vessels in the body. Cardiovascular disease refers to disease of the heart or blood vessels.

Medicines

• Blood-thinning medicines.
• Statins.
• Beta blockers.
• Nitrates.
• Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors.
• Angiotensin-2 receptor blockers (ARBs)
• Calcium channel blockers.
• Diuretics.

High blood pressure is a condition that makes the heart work harder than normal. And left untreated, it scars and damages your arteries and can lead to heart disease such as heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, eye damage, heart failure and fatty buildups in the arteries, called atherosclerosis.

An estimated 80% of cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, are preventable. However, cardiovascular disease remains the No. 1 killer and the most expensive disease, costly nearly $1 billion a day.

On average, women live longer than men with heart disease. At age 50 women can expect to live 7.9 years and men 6.7 years with heart disease. The average woman experiences heart disease onset three years older and heart attacks 4.4 years older than men.

Major Risk Factors

• High Blood Pressure (Hypertension). High blood pressure increases your risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.
• High Blood Cholesterol. One of the major risk factors for heart disease is high blood cholesterol.
• Diabetes.
• Obesity and Overweight.
• Smoking.
• Physical Inactivity.
• Gender.
• Heredity.

The “controllable” risk factors are:

• Smoking.
• High blood pressure.
• High blood cholesterol.
• High blood sugar (diabetes)
• Obesity and overweight.
• Obesity and Overweight.
• Physical inactivity.
• Stress.