Cardiovascular disease Flashcards
What is cardiovascular disease?
Heart conditions which cause or influence the chances of heart attacks and strokes.
Define Atherosclerosis.
Atherosclerosis is a disease in which plaque builds up inside your arteries.
Define vascular disease.
Vascular Disease includes any condition that affects your circulatory system
What is peripheral vascular disease?
A circulatory condition in which narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to the limbs which can result in the lose of the legs.
What causes cardiovascular disease?
Atherosclerotic plaque (buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on your artery walls) or an atheroma which in time leads to atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). Leading to heart attack and stroke.
What are some plaque formation causes?
Decreased heart function aka low energy and fitness, increased blood pressure, and general consumption of nutrients over time.
What is bad about plaque rupturing?
The exposed content can cause a clot formation blocking the arterys or can cause obstructions.
True or False? Vascular disease is caused by high dietary or plasma calcium levels.
False
True or False? Vascular disease is not caused by high plasma cholesterol levels.
True
True or False? Vascular disease is caused by dietary cholesterol alone
False
True or False? Vascular disease is visible on CT, MRI, or ultra sound unless calcified.
False
Which determinant is more of an issue of heart disease: Diet or Genetics?
Your genetics.
True or False? You can repair aka clean your arterys.
False.
True or False? Xrays cant see the build up of plaque ect in your arteries.
True
Do healthy people get CD?
Yes!
What stage of plaque should us students be at?
A normal or early stage of plaque build up, usually with fatty streaks.
What drives plaque formation?
Your liver! Your liver produces LDL which transports your cholesterol in the blood. Macrophages are attracted to this LDL in the blood and ingest it causing the macrophages to become foam cells which promote inflamation and plaque build up and hardening in the artery. This will only occur if the uptake of oxLDL exceeds the macrophages ability to offload the cholesterol onto HDL (good cholesterol).
What is the most dangerous thing about cardiovascular disease?
It is usually asymptomatic until there is an event such as a heart attack or stroke in which chances of survival can be low.
What are some risk factors of cardiovasular disease?
Age, family history, blood cholesterol/lipids, blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, and weight.
What is cardiovascular disease treatment usually based off?
Lipid lowering and reduction of symptoms rather than reduction of plaque size.
What are the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease?
Smoking, age, and family history.
True or False? Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in New Zealand.
True, it accounts for around 40% of deaths annualy.
What can you do in terms of CD?
Improve diet (helps for only 20% of cholesterol synthesis), exercise, use cholesterol absorption blockers, medications, and surgery.
Can you die from type 2 diabetes?
No but you can die from heart disease caused by type 2 diabetes.
Why are treatments for CD based on lipid lowering an reduction of symptoms rather than plaque size ect?
Because we cant see plaque build up.
