In partnership with World Health Organization WHO, the World Heart Federation organizes World Heart Day every year. This year’s theme is “One world, one home, one heart”. Cardiovascular diseases are the world’s largest killers, claiming 17.1 million lives a year. Risk factors for heart disease and stroke include raised blood pressure, cholesterol and glucose levels, smoking, inadequate intake of fruit and vegetables, overweight, obesity and physical inactivity.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels and include:
*coronary heart disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle
*cerebrovascular disease – disease of the blood vessels supplying the brain
*peripheral arterial disease – disease of blood vessels supplying the arms and legs
*rheumatic heart disease – damage to the heart muscle and heart valves from *rheumatic fever, caused by streptococcal bacteria
*congenital heart disease – malformations of heart structure existing at birth
*deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism – blood clots in the leg veins, which can dislodge and move to the heart and lungs.
Heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are mainly caused by a blockage that prevents blood from flowing to the heart or brain. The most common reason for this is a build-up of fatty deposits on the inner walls of the blood vessels that supply the heart or brain. Strokes can also be caused by bleeding from a blood vessel in the brain or from blood clots.
What are the risk factors for cardiovascular disease?
The most important behavioural risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol. Behavioural risk factors are responsible for about 80% of coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease.
The effects of unhealthy diet and physical inactivity may show up in individuals as raised blood pressure, raised blood glucose, raised blood lipids, and overweight and obesity; these are called ‘intermediate risk factors’ or metabolic risk factors.
There are also a number of underlying determinants of CVDs, or “the causes of the causes”. These are a reflection of the major forces driving social, economic and cultural change – globalization, urbanization, and population ageing. Other determinants of CVDs include poverty, stress and hereditary factors.
