Heart disease refers to a broad range of cardiovascular diseases.
Heart Disease Symptoms: How Do You Know You Have It?
Heart disease represents a wide range of conditions, and itssymptomscan vary; different types come with different signs.
Suriyapong Thongsawang / Getty Images
CVD can be asymptomatic, meaning many people live for months or years without symptoms.
Often, the underlying issue is not identified until it starts causing complications.
Heart Disease Symptoms Are an Emergency
If you experience any CVD symptoms, get emergency medical help.
Heart attack can cause the heart to stop (cardiac arrest) and can become fatal without prompt treatment.
People may experience these warning signs for months before serious complications, such as heart attack, occur.
Warning signs include:
For heart failure, troubling signs include:
What Causes Heart Disease?
Heart disease is resulting from various factors depending on the pop in of heart disease.
The most common cause of heart disease isatherosclerosis, which causes plaque buildup and hardened arterial walls.
It develops gradually over time and eventually restricts blood flow due to narrowing arteries.
In some cases, people experience blood vessel problems.
Arteries of the heart can cause them to tighten or close up, a condition calledvasospasm.
Heart Disease Risk Factors
Various factors can increase your risk of developing heart disease.
Certain populations and people with specific underlying diseases are at higher risk of developing heart disease.
A CVD diagnosis also based on the results of tests and imaging techniques.
These include:
Talk to a healthcare provider before implementing these approaches.
After the procedure, a stenta mesh support tubeis implanted to prevent the artery from closing.
This therapy is typically reserved for more severe or extensive cases.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.What is coronary heart disease?
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Heart disease facts.
American Heart Association.What is cardiovascular disease?
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Coronary heart disease: symptoms.
Keteepe-Arachi T, Sharma S.Cardiovascular disease in women: understanding symptoms and risk factors.Eur Cardiol.
2017;12(1):10-13. doi:10.15420/ecr.2016:32:1
American Heart Association.Early signs of a heart attack.
American Heart Association.Heart failure: Signs and symptoms.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Coronary heart disease: Causes and risk factors.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Prevent heart disease.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Stroke: Diagnosis.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Coronary heart disease: Diagnosis.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Coronary heart disease: Treatment.
2023;147(2).
2021;10(16):e019270.
doi:10.1161/JAHA.120.019270
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Preventing heart disease.
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.Coronary heart disease: treatment.
