What are Cardiovascular Diseases?
Cardiovascular diseases account for ischaemic heart disease (also known as coronary heart disease), stroke, myocardial infarction, rheumatic heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial disease and others (WHO, 2017). These are all caused by the same problem: a build up of plaque in blood vessels which restricts the supply of oxygen to vital organs such as the brain and the heart (WHO, 2017). The number one cause of death in the world is Ischaemic heart disease (Cardiol, et. al., 2013).
How do people develop Cardiovascular Diseases?
The modifiable proximal determinants, that is, risk factors at the individual level which are lifestyle choices that could be prevented, include: smoking, hypertension, abdominal obesity, psychosocial factors such as stress and depression, consumption of alcohol, lack of physical activity and malnutrition caused by not consuming enough fruits and vegetables (Yusuf, et. al., 2004). The non-modifiable proximal determinants are prior vascular disease, age, gender and family history.
not consuming enough fruits and vegetables
The distal determinants of cardiovascular diseases, that is, risk factors at the population-level, are influences such as the geographic location and its environmental factors, for example, urban or rural areas and the climate, sociocultural factors such as social norms and beliefs, the government, its legislations and policies as well as the strength of its economy to be able to provide government funding, particularly for education. All of these factors can have a strong influence on the lifestyles that individuals lead and therefore affect proximal determinants of a population on a large-scale (Chow, et. al., 2009).
Who is at risk?
All children, adults and elderly people are at risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (WHO, 2017). However, approximately 75% of people who develop a cardiovascular disease, regardless of region and ethnic origin, are male (Yusuf, et. al., 2004). Also, since the 1990s, there has been a rapid shift of prevalence from developed countries to developing countries (Chow, et. al., 2009).
References:
Cardiol, J., et. al. (2013) Mortality from ischaemic heart disease by country, region, and age: statistics from World Health Organisation and United Nations.
Chow, C., et. al. (2009) Environmental and societal influences acting on cardiovascular risk factors and disease at a population level: a review. International Journal of Epidemiology, 38(6), 1580–1594. doi:10.1093/ije/dyn258
WHO (2017) Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) Fact Sheet
WHO (2017) Heart Disease, Tobacco Free Initiative, Programs
Yusuf, S. et. al. (2004) Effect of potentially modifiable risk factors associated with myocardial infarction in 52 countries (the INTERHEART study): case-control study. The Lancet, 364(9438), 937–952. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17018-9
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