Heart Disease

Heart disease describes a variety of issues that can affect your heart. Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the most common type. CAD, also known as coronary heart disease, can make your arteries narrow and lead to a heart attack. Heart disease can also affect your heart muscle, valves or electrical system. The symptoms you have and the treatments you get depend on the type of heart disease you have.

When your heart isn’t working well, it has trouble sending enough blood, oxygen and nutrients to your body. In a way, your heart delivers the fuel that keeps your body running. If your heart can’t deliver that fuel, it affects everything your body’s systems do.

Lifestyle changes and medications can keep your heart healthy and lower your chances of getting heart disease.

Heart disease is the top cause of death in the United States in people from most ethnic backgrounds.

Types of heart disease

Heart disease types include:

• Coronary artery disease: Fatty deposits make your heart’s blood vessels narrow.
• Arrhythmias: Abnormal heart rhythms keep your heart from beating in a coordinated way.
• Heart valve diseases: Valves that are too narrow or don’t close right reduce blood flow.
• Cardiomyopathy: Stiff or thickened heart muscle can’t pump blood well.
• Heart failure: Your heart can’t pump blood well enough to keep up with your body’s needs.
• Congenital heart disease: Problems with how your heart formed before birth prevent normal blood flow.
• Pericardial issues: A stiff or inflamed sac (pericardium) around your heart presses on your heart.

Symptoms of heart disease

The first symptoms of heart disease include chest pain, shortness of breath, swelling in your legs, fatigue and dizziness/fainting. But you can have different signs of heart disease depending on what’s wrong. Heart disease symptoms may include:

• Pounding or racing heart (palpitations)
• Sweating
• Neck pain
• Heartburn or indigestion
• Nausea or vomiting
• Trouble sleeping
• Exercise intolerance
• Fever

Heart disease causes

Issues with your heart, like muscle scarring or injury or blocked arteries can cause heart disease. Different types of heart disease have different causes. Other causes of heart disease include:

• Genetic issues
• Kidney problems
• Infections, including those outside your heart
• Thyroid problems
• Autoimmune diseases
• Pregnancy complications
• Aging
• Certain medications, like chemotherapy
• Use of addictive substances
• High blood pressure

Risk factors

Heart disease may be more likely to happen to you if you have certain risk factors. Risk factors for heart disease include conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes or substance use disorder. You’re also in a high-risk group if you have a BMI (body mass index) higher than 25 (having overweight). Having heart disease in your biological family raises your risk, and so does using tobacco products, being inactive and eating unhealthy foods.

You can lower your risk by managing these conditions, being more physically active, giving up tobacco and eating healthier.

Complications of this condition

Some types of heart disease can lead to other kinds of heart disease. Complications of heart disease — many of which are life-threatening — include:

• Heart attack
• Heart failure
• Cardiomyopathy
• Stroke
• Abnormal heart rhythms
• Cardiogenic shock
• Cardiac arrest
• Heart valve disease
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Damage to your kidneys or liver

How doctors diagnose this condition

A provider can make a heart disease diagnosis after doing a physical exam, hearing about your symptoms and learning about your personal and biological family health history. They’ll also perform diagnostic tests, like:

• Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)
• Ambulatory monitors
• Echocardiogram
• Cardiac computerized tomography (CT)
• Heart magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
• Blood tests to check your cholesterol level and other substances
• Stress test
• Cardiac catheterization

How is heart disease treated?

Heart disease treatments depend on your heart issue. Your healthcare provider may ask you to make changes to your daily life, take medication or have surgery.

Heart disease treatments may include:

• Lifestyle changes: This could consist of cutting saturated fats from your meals, stopping the use of tobacco products or starting a walking program.
• Medicine: You can lower blood pressure and cholesterol with medicine. Also, certain medications can help with heart failure or abnormal heart rhythms. Always take these prescriptions the way your provider tells you to.
• Surgeries or procedures: You may need open-heart surgery, minimally invasive surgery or an ablation. Other procedures include catheterization, device placement or cardioversion.
• Cardiac rehab: This supervised program can strengthen your heart after a heart attack. With nutritional advice and monitored exercise, it provides extra support for changing your lifestyle.

Recovery time

Depending on the surgery or procedure you have, your recovery can take a few days to many weeks. You may only need a few days to recover from minor procedures. But you may need two to four weeks to recover from minimally invasive surgery and six to 12 weeks to recover from open-heart surgery.

When should I see my healthcare provider?

If you have a biological family history of heart disease, you may want to ask your provider if you have other risk factors. If you do, you can make a plan to help prevent heart disease.

Contact your provider if you have heart disease symptoms. Call your local emergency number if you suddenly experience chest pain, pressure, heaviness or discomfort, fainting or shortness of breath.

You may want to ask your healthcare provider:

• What kind of heart disease do I have?
• Is my family at risk for this type of disease?
• What’s the best treatment for me?

What can I expect if I have heart disease?

Medications and/or procedures can help people who have various types of heart diseases. It’s easier to treat most types of heart disease if you get an early diagnosis instead of waiting for symptoms to get worse. Many people can live full lives when they follow their healthcare provider’s treatment plan.

Is there anything I can do to feel better?

If you have coronary artery disease (the most common kind of heart disease), you can improve your health by making changes to your daily life. This may include reducing how much salt and saturated fat you eat and increasing how active you are. A provider may also recommend taking medicine to lower your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Can heart disease be prevented?

You can prevent some kinds of heart diseases in these ways:

• Reach and stay at a weight that’s healthy for you.
• Manage conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
• Get at least 30 to 60 minutes of exercise per day on most days.
• Decrease your stress level.
• Sleep seven to nine hours every night.
• Eat foods that are unprocessed and low in salt and saturated fat.
• Don’t use any tobacco products.
• Limit how many beverages you drink that contain alcohol.