Risk factors increase the likelihood that you'll develop cardiovascular disease, and the more risk factors you have, the greater your chances of developing it. Fortunately, most of these risk factors are within your control, like high cholesterol and high blood pressure levels, being overweight, smoking, lack of exercise, overconsumption of alcohol, unmanaged diabetes, and stress. Factors you can't control include genetics and aging. Read more
Stroke
If they don't get the oxygen and glucose they require, your brain cells start to die in minutes. That's exactly what happens when someone has a stroke. Most strokes are ischemic strokes, usually caused by atherosclerosis. Fatty deposits form on the walls of the arteries, which stiffen and become narrower. The narrowed arteries can easily become blocked completely by blood clots, cutting off the brain's vital blood supply. Stroke is the number two leading cause of death worldwide, second only to heart disease. Read more
Heart Attack
Over time, LDL cholesterol can build up on the walls of the coronary arteries and form hard plaques, reducing blood supply to the heart. This stiffening and narrowing of the arteries is called atherosclerosis. Sometimes the surface of a plaque ruptures, releasing substances that make platelets stickier and encouraging clots to form on the surface of the plaque. The clot can block the flow of blood through the already-narrowed artery entirely. Without blood, heart muscle tissue starts to die in what's termed a "myocardial infarction" a heart attack. Read more
Arrhythmias
Arrhythmias Heart arrhythmias occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate the heartbeat don't function properly. For example, a scar from a heart attack may cause the electrical impulse to short circuit around it and veer from the normal electrical pathway. Arrhythmias may cause the heart to beat too quickly, too slowly, or irregularly. Read more
