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Smoking is a major risk factor for heart disease. The chemicals you inhale when you smoke cause damage to your heart and blood vessels that makes you more likely to develop atherosclerosis, or plaque buildup in the arteries. Any amount of smoking, even occasional smoking, can cause this damage to the heart and blood vessels.
Heart inflammation is your body’s natural reaction to an infection or injury to the heart. To protect your body, your white blood cells send chemicals that increase blood flow to the area. This can lead to redness, swelling, or pain. Inflammation can affect the lining of your heart or valves, the heart muscle, or the tissue around the heart.
Heart and blood vessel problems in pregnancy can affect your heart health years and even decades after your child is born. For example, women who have gestational diabetes or any of the pregnancy-related high blood pressure disorders, such as gestational high blood pressure or preeclampsia, have a higher long-term risk of heart and blood vessel ...
Vertebral artery disease includes problems with thinking and memory, weakness or numbness on one side of the body or face, and vision trouble. Transient ischemic attack (TIA), commonly called a ministroke, is a more serious symptom. Mesenteric artery ischemia of the intestines includes severe belly pain following meals, weight loss, and diarrhea.
Mental health problems, such as stress, marital stress, anxiety, depression, or low social support; Metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors that raises your risk for heart disease and other health problems; Overweight and obesity; Some factors raise women’s risk of coronary heart disease more than they increase the risk for men, including ...
One possible complication is that the graft will become blocked with plaque and limit or stop blood flow to the heart. If your graft stops working, this may cause a heart attack or other problem with your heart, and you may need additional surgery or PCI. Know the signs of a heart attack and call 9-1-1 right away. Every minute matters.
If you have mild heart failure, you may not notice any symptoms except during hard physical work. Symptoms can depend on whether you have left-sided or right-sided heart failure. However, you can have symptoms of both types. Symptoms usually get worse as your heart grows weaker. Heart failure can lead to serious and life-threatening complications.
For example, a heart attack takes away more than 16 years of life on average. People with heart failure lose an average of nearly 10 years. Everyone can take steps to adopt heart-healthy living. Research shows that women who have a healthy lifestyle could expect to live 14 years longer than those who do not, while men could have 12 more years ...
If the clot becomes large enough, it can mostly or completely block blood flow through a coronary artery. Blocked blood flow to the heart muscle causes a heart attack. Certain traits, conditions, or habits may raise your risk for coronary heart disease. Physical activity can help control some of these risk factors by:
Myocarditis can affect small or large sections of the heart muscle, making it harder for the heart to pump blood. Myocarditis can lead to other serious heart conditions, such as heart failure, cardiomyopathy, and arrhythmias. Inflammation can extend to the pericardium and cause a condition called myopericarditis.