Common Signs and Symptoms of THYROID Disorder

What are the Leading Causes of Heart Disease

At a glance

• Heart disease is one of the world's biggest killers, so it pays to understand the risks and take steps to lower your chance of getting it.
• Your age, sex, family history, ethnic background and whether or not you have diabetes can all influence your risk.
• To lower the chance of you getting it, keep to a healthy weight, stop smoking, watch your cholesterol levels and exercise regularly.

Lower your risk of coronary heart disease

Heart disease is one of the world's biggest killers today. In the UK, around one in five men and one in five women die of the disease. An estimated 2.6 million people in the UK live with the condition, and angina (the most common symptom of coronary heart disease) affects 2 million people. This fact sheet explains the risk factors of coronary heart disease, so you can find out if you are high risk — and what you can do to lower it.

The cause of coronary heart disease

The main cause of coronary heart disease is a build-up of fatty deposits on the walls of your arteries. This "furring" of cholesterol, cell waste and other substances reduces the space through which your blood can flow, and causes your artery walls to lose their elasticity. This in turn may lead to high blood pressure, which also increases your risk of coronary heart disease.

Risk factors for coronary heart disease

• Age — as we get older the risk of developing coronary heart disease naturally increases.
• Sex — men are more at risk than women. But after the menopause or a hysterectomy, women lose the natural protection of the female sex hormone, oestrogen. Women smokers who take the contraceptive pill are also at a greater risk of a heart attack.
• Family history — your risk increases if you have a family history of coronary heart disease, high cholesterol levels or high blood pressure.
• Ethnic background — if you are Asian you have a higher risk of developing diabetes, a risk factor for heart disease. If you are black you are more at risk of high blood pressure, another risk factor for heart disease.
• Diabetes — diabetics are three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease.

How you can lower your risk -

While some risk factors, e.g. your ethnic background, family history and sex, are beyond your control, there's still much you can do to lower the chance of having coronary heart disease. A few changes to your lifestyle can make a big difference to your risk:

• Keep to a healthy weight — being overweight increases your risk by 80%.
• Stop smoking — smokers under the age of 50 are five times more likely than non-smokers to die of coronary heart disease.
• Watch your cholesterol levels — raised levels of cholesterol, triglycerides or low-density lipoprotein (LDL) in the blood high blood pressure increase your risk.
• Get regular exercise — keeping active helps to lower your chance of getting coronary heart disease.

Every year in the UK, around 94,000 people die of coronary heart disease. So it pays to understand the risk factors for the condition and to make any changes you can to lower your chance of getting it. And hopefully look forward to a longer and healthier life.

About Author - 

I have been done specialization in health disease and health care solutions and write for Hindustan Wellness to helps you to maintain your healthy life and prevent life threatening diseases. Hindustan Wellness is a preventive healthcare management company that offers best full body health check up packages at affordable price in Delhi NCR.