EDITOR’S PICK:
A myocardial infarction commonly called a heart attack is an extremely dangerous condition caused by a lack of blood flow to your heart muscle. The lack of blood flow can occur because of many different factors but is usually related to a blockage in one or more of your heart’s arteries.
Without blood flow, the affected heart muscle will begin to die. If blood flow isn’t restored quickly, a heart attack can cause permanent heart damage and death.
Your heart muscle needs a constant supply of oxygen-rich blood. Your coronary arteries give your heart this critical blood supply. If you have coronary artery disease, those arteries become narrow, and blood can’t flow as well as it should. When your blood supply is blocked, you have a heart attack.
1. Diabetes
Having diabetes means you are more likely to develop heart disease. People with diabetes are also more likely to have certain risk factors, such as high blood pressure link or high cholesterol, that increase their chances of having a heart attack or a stroke. People with diabetes are more likely to have heart failure.
Heart failure is a serious condition, but it doesn’t mean the heart has stopped beating. While all people with diabetes have an increased chance of developing heart disease, the condition is more common in those with type 2 diabetes. When you have diabetes, you’re more at risk of heart disease. This is also called cardiovascular disease (CVD) or coronary disease and can lead to a heart attack.
2. Obesity
Being overweight or obese can lead to many serious health conditions and can increase your risk of heart and circulatory diseases such as heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia. Obesity has an important role in atherosclerosis and coronary artery disease. Obesity leads to structural and functional changes in the heart, which causes heart failure.
The altered myocardial structure increases the risk of atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death. However, it’s long been known that when you’re overweight, you’re more apt to develop conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes that can lead to heart disease.
3. Old age
A heart attack can occur at any age, but your risk increases as you get older. However, scientific evidence shows that the prevalence of heart attacks among younger people has been increasing over the last few decades.
People aged 65 and older are much more likely than younger people to suffer a heart attack, have a stroke, or develop coronary heart disease and heart failure.
FURTHER READING
Age is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults, but these risks are compounded by additional factors, including frailty, obesity, and diabetes. These factors are known to complicate and enhance cardiac risk factors that are associated with the onset of advanced age.
Click to watch our video of the week:
Every Christmas brings a feeling of nostalgia as Christian families prepare for exchange of gift…
A dispute between two brothers, Richard and John Nwofia, has taken an unexpected turn with…
Hon. Monsuru Akinloye has commended Epe Club for its remarkable contributions to the development of…