Health and Disease

Prepared by:
Saba Kashif (10-H)

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

What is Coronary Heart Disease?

• A cardiovascular condition also known as

coronary artery disease, or simply ‘heart
disease’.
• Result of plaque buildup in arteries, which can
make them more rigid and narrowed. This
restricts blood flow to your heart muscle, which
can then become starved of oxygen.
• The plaque could rupture, leading to a heart
attack or sudden cardiac death
Causes

• The following factors contribute to its prevalence:

• Smoking. It increases the chances of arteries clogging. Exposing others to your
secondhand smoke also increases their risk of disease.
• Sedentary lifestyle: Lack of exercise also is associated with coronary artery
disease and some of its risk factors, as well.
• Associated diseases: Diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol all contribute
to the risk.
• Unhealthy diet. Eating too much food with high amounts of saturated fat, trans
fat, salt and sugar can increase the risk.
Risk factors

• Coronary heart disease can also be influenced by the following factors:

• Age. Simply getting older increases your risk of damaged and narrowed arteries.
• Gender. Men are generally at greater risk of coronary artery disease. However,
the risk for women increases after crossing middle age.
• Family history. A family history of heart disease is associated with higher risk,
especially if a close relative developed it at an early age. Your risk is highest if
your father or a brother was diagnosed with heart disease before age 55 or if your
mother or a sister developed it before age 65.
• High stress. Unrelieved stress in your life may damage your arteries and worsen
other risk factors.
Why is CHD a public health issue?

• Causes an estimated 17.9 million deaths each year.

• One third of these deaths occur prematurely in people under 70 years of
age.
• 43% of all cardiovascular deaths are attributable to CHD
• Globally represents about 30% of all deaths.
 Why is CHD an issue in low- and middle-
income countries?
• At least ¾ of the world's deaths from CHD occur in low- and middle-income countries.
• Lack of integrated primary health care programmes
• No early detection/treatment of people with risk factors compared to high-income
countries.
• Lack of education– stereotypes associated with the disease
• Less access to effective health care services. As a result, many people are detected late in
the course of the disease and die younger from CHD and other non-contagious diseases,
often in their most productive years.
• Poorest people are affected most. At the household level, sufficient evidence is emerging
to prove that CHD and other non-contagious diseases contribute to poverty due to
catastrophic health spending and high out-of-pocket expenditure.
• Leads to heavy burden on the economy
How can countries prevent CHD?

The WHO suggested these solutions to limit the prevalence of CHD worldwide:
• tobacco control policies (to limit smoking)
• taxing processed foods (to reduce intake of foods high in fat, sugar and salt)
• building walking and cycle paths (to increase physical activity)
• strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol
• providing healthy school meals to children.
• treatment with necessary medication and (costly) surgeries.
How can the world prevent CHD?

• The WHO plans to provide drug therapy and counselling for at least 50% of eligible
people to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
• Also strengthening key health system components, including health-care financing to
ensure access to basic health technologies and essential CHD medicines.
• Reducing incidence of hypertension (associated disease) by implementing population-
wide policies to reduce behavioral risk factors (harmful use of alcohol, physical
inactivity, overweight, obesity and high salt intake)
• A total-risk approach needs to be adopted for early detection and cost-effective
management of hypertension in order to prevent heart attacks, strokes etc.