SB5c

Question 1

What is cardiovascular disease?

Answer 1

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a summary of many diseases that affect the heart and circulatory system (e.g. high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes etc.)

Question 2

Who have higher probabilities of suffering from CVD and why?

Answer 2

Overweight and obese people. This is because there are large amounts of subcutaneous fat under the skin and around vital organs such as the heart and kidneys.

Question 3

What are 2 ways of determining someone is obese?

Answer 3

1. BMI (Body Mass Index)
2. Waist-to-hip ratio

Question 4

How do we calculate BMI?

Answer 4

‎ mass (kg)
BMI (kg/m^2) = ______________________
height^2 (m)

Question 5

How do we calculate waist-to-hip ratio?

Answer 5

‎ waist circumference
Waist-to-hip ratio = __________________________
hip circumference

Question 6

What are the factors and differences between BMI and waist-to-hip ratio?

Answer 6

BMI:
1. Does not distinguish between fat and muscle
2. Muscle weighs more than fat (this means athletes’ BMI could show they are obese, while in reality they are not due to having lots of muscle)

Waist-to-hip ratio:
1. Better way of determining obesity
2. Measures abdominal fat

The more the BMI and the waist-to-hip ratio, the higher the chance of someone suffering from CVD.

Question 7

What are the effects and diseases caused by smoking?

Answer 7

1. Increased risk of developing CVD
2. Tobacco contains nicotine that vasoconstricts blood vessels, increasing risk of blood clots (could block artery in heart or brain causing heart attack or stroke)
3. Increased blood pressure due to narrowing of blood vessels
4. Tobacco contains carbon monoxide (poisonous gas)
5. Carbon monoxide takes the place of oxygen in the blood, so blood carries less oxygen to the cells

Check picture SB5c (booklet/book).

Question 8

Why do obese people get heart attacks?

Answer 8

1. Artery wall gets damaged due to high blood pressure
2. Lumen gets narrower because fat deposits into the wall of the artery
3. This causes less blood flow to the heart muscle, less oxygen and glucose delivered to the heart muscle and less respiration causing cells to die

Question 9

How do we treat CVD?

Answer 9

1. Use bypass surgery so the blood can use another route to go to the heart muscle when a blood vessel is blocked at a certain point
2. Use a stent (metal mesh tube) to keep the blood vessels wide
3. Medication to decrease the formation of blood clots and preventing heart attacks/strokes

Check picture SB5c (booklet).