Learn More About AED

What Are Your Risks?

The Coronary Arteries

The heart muscle itself is nourished by blood flowing through the coronary arteries, which branch off the aorta and encircle the heart like a crown (hence the name "coronary"). Because the heart must beat continually to sustain life, the heart muscle requires more blood than any other body muscle. In fact, the most common form of heart disease involves a narrowing and clogging of the coronary arteries - a condition called coronary artery disease (CAD) or coronary heart disease (CHD).

What Can Go Wrong

• A Heart Attack : Also called a myocardial infarction (MI), a heart attack occurs when a coronary artery is completely or almost completely blocked by a blood clot or fatty plaque. About 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack each year, and about 500,000 will die.
• Sudden Cardiac Death
• Ventricular Fibrillation
• Cardiac Arrest

What's Your Cardiovascular Risk?

Researchers have identified a number of factors that increase the risk of suffering a heart attack or other cardiovascular event :

• Factors that cannot be changed:
  • Age Risk increases with advancing age.
  • Gender An early heart attack, ie., before age 50, is more common among men than women. However, after menopause, the incidence of heart attack increases significantly in women.
  • Heredity A family history of early heart attacks increases individual risk
  
  
• Factors that can be changed:
  • Cigarette smoking
  • High blood pressure
  • High blood fats (lipids), especially LDL cholesterol and lipoprotein (a)
  • Diabetes and glucose intolerance
  • Obesity
  • Elevated homocysteine (a byproduct of protein metabolism)
  • High fibrinogen, which increases the tendency to form blood clots
  • An enlarged heart (left ventricular dilation)
  • Sedentary lifestyle
  • Cocaine use
  • Behavioral factors, such as stress and Type A personality