Research for heart disease

this is where i am going to comment on all the research i find on my trip to the library on friday  the 24th we will meet there at the library.  here are the topics i am looking for causes, symptoms, statistics, remedies, cures and research

Coronary artery disease is the most common cause of death in the United States. Over a million people each year will have a heart attack and 25% will die before they get to the hospital while or in the Emergency Department.

Prevention is the key to treatment of heart disease.

Diagnosis of heart disease is often made by careful history taken by a health care practitioner. Some individuals may have atypical symptoms, including almost none at all.

The testing strategy to confirm the diagnosis and plan appropriate treatment needs to be individualized for each patient diagnosed with heart disease.

Treatment of heart disease depends upon the severity of disease, and is often directed by the symptoms experienced by the affected individual

Risk factors for heart disease include:

• Smoking
• High blood pressure (hypertension)
• High cholesterol
• Diabetes
• Family history
• Peripheral artery disease
• Obesity

What are the symptoms of heart disease?

The typical symptoms of coronary artery disease are chest pain associated with shortness of breath. Classically, the pain of angina is described as a pressure or heaviness behind the breast bone with radiation to the jaw and down the arm accompanied by shortness of breath and sweating. Unfortunately, angina has a variety of signs and symptoms, and there may not even be specific chest pain. Other locations of pain and other symptoms may include shoulder or back ache, upper abdominal pain, nausea, and indigestion.

Women, the elderly, and people with diabetes may have different perceptions of pain or have no discomfort at all. Instead, they may complain of malaise or fatigue and generalized weakness and the inability to complete routine physical tasks such as walking or climbing stairs.

Health care practitioners and patients may have difficulty understanding each other when symptoms of angina are described. Patients may experience pressure or tightness but may deny any complaints of pain. Health care practitioners may misinterpret these symptoms when patient answers "no" to the question whether "pain is present," even though the patient is experiencing other types of discomfort.

People with coronary artery disease usually have gradual progression of their symptoms. As an artery narrows over time, the symptoms of decreased blood flow to part of the heart muscle may increase in frequency and/or severity. Health care practitioners may inquire about changes in exercise tolerance (How far can you walk before getting symptoms? Is it to the mailbox? Up a flight of stairs?), and whether there has been an acute change in the symptoms.

Once again, patients may be asymptomatic until a heart attack occurs. Of course, some patients also may be in denial as to their symptoms and procrastinate in seeking care

http://www.medicinenet.com/heart_disease/article.htm

Statistics related to heart disease: Each year, heart disease is at the top of the list of the country's most serious health problems. In fact, statistics show that cardiovascular disease is America's leading health problem, and the leading cause of death. Consider the most recent statistics released by the American Heart Association (AHA):

• At least 80 million people in this country suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
• One person in three suffers from some form of cardiovascular disease. This includes high blood pressure - 65 million; coronary heart disease - 13 million; stroke - 5.5 million; congenital cardiovascular defects - 1million; and congestive heart failure - 5 million.
• Rheumatic heart disease / rheumatic fever kills over 3,000 Americans each year.
• Almost one out of every 2.8 deaths results from cardiovascular disease.
• More than 2,400 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each day, an average of one death every 37 seconds.
• Cardiovascular disease is the cause of more deaths than the next five causes of death combined, which are cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, diabetes mellitus, and flu/pneumonia.
• It is a myth that heart disease is a man's disease. In fact, cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women (and men). These diseases currently claim the lives of nearly a half a million females every year.
• About one-third of cardiovascular disease deaths occurred prematurely (before age 75, the approximate average life expectancy in that year).
• On average, someone in the US suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies every 3 minutes from stroke.
• Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability that accounts for more than half of all patients hospitalized for a neurological disease. Stroke deaths have been increasing in recent years
• http://nyp.org/health/cardiac-stats.html