Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is not a single condition, but a group description. Each manifestation is different but what they have in common is the potential for serious and even fatal damage to the heart or blood vessels. The heart is not the only organ that is endangered: others including the eyes, kidneys and even the brain can be affected because of the impaired performance of the arteries which is a consequence of CVD.
CVD is one of the biggest killers in the UK, vying for first place with cancer and strokes. It causes 168,000 deaths every year and more than 7.6 million people are living with CVD [1]. Yet most cases of CVD are preventable through changes in diet and lifestyle while many will respond to medication. One of the problems the health service faces is the vast number of sufferers who remain undiagnosed.
The Four Types of Cause of Cardio Vascular Disease
– Coronary heart disease is the obstruction of the artery which supplies blood to the heart.
– Strokes are caused by blocked arteries impeding the blood supply to the brain.
– Peripheral artery disease is the obstruction of blood supply to the limbs.
– Aortic disease is the opposite of coronary, occurring when the supply of blood from the heart to the rest of the body is impaired.
The Cause of Cardio Vascular Disease
Although the four conditions affect the body in different ways, they share a common cause, which is usually the accretion of fat deposits in the artery walls. As the fat accumulates, it creates plaque which damages the artery walls and causes them to narrow. As a result, it becomes much harder for blood to pass freely along the arteries, to and from the heart, to the brain, limbs and other organs. This increases the likelihood that blood clots will form, turning a blockage from partial to total. Once blood is prevented from reaching any of the vital organs, the condition becomes life-threatening.
Risk Factors of Cardio Vascular Diseases
There is no mystery about what causes damage to the arteries. The most common ones are high blood pressure, which puts pressure on the blood vessels, smoking, which narrows the blood vessels, diabetes which generates damaging levels of glucose and a lack of exercise which means that the body’s intake of fat is not burned off and instead deposited in the blood vessel walls. The challenge is to get the message into the minds of the general public so they will understand how straightforward it can be to prevent CVD. Before that, we need a much more effective system of diagnosis, since we know that hundreds of thousands of people are going about their daily lives unaware of the time bomb inside their bodies [2].
Diagnosis
NICE, the British Heart Foundation, BHF, and other bodies recommend the use of a 10-year CVD risk calculator. This is an effective preventive tool that can assess an individual’s chances of developing CVD in the next 10 years. It takes into account a wide range of indicators including age, gender, ethnicity, lifestyle, blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose levels. The idea behind this calculator is to identify problems before they become serious enough to require interventions rather than the more measured actions that can be taken at an earlier stage.
How can Katalyst Health help you to reduce the risks of Cardio Vascular Disease?
Katalyst Health has developed testing resources that can accurately measure all the indicators used by the calculator. We have shortened the previously protracted process of waiting for laboratory results with a virtually instant solution. Armed with the findings of these indicators, our customers receive a comprehensive health report with in-depth lifestyle advice and guidance on how to reduce the risk level and maintain it for life.
[1] bhf-cvd-statistics-uk-factsheet.pdf
[2] https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/contact-the-press-office/facts-and-figures
