There are numerous problems associated with heart disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, the most common type of heart disease among Americans is coronary artery disease or CAD, which can lead to heart attack. The CDC states that a person can significantly reduce her risk for CAD—and its associated problems—by adopting healthy lifestyle behaviors, such as consuming a nutritious diet and engaging in regular aerobic exercise.
Arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis is a problem associated with heart disease. According to the Mayo Clinic website, a person's arteries transport blood, oxygen and nutrients to his tissues and organs, and healthy arteries possess three distinct characteristics: they are flexible, strong and elastic. If the pressure in a person's arteries is too high, though, his arterial walls can become thick and stiff, which may impair circulation to various parts of his body.
The thickening and hardening of a person's arteries is called arteriosclerosis, and atherosclerosis—-the accumulation of fatty materials or plaque on the inner walls of arteries—is a special type of arteriosclerosis. The Mayo Clinic website notes that arterial hardening occurs over a prolonged period, and that common risk factors include the following: elevated blood pressure or hypertension, elevated cholesterol, diabetes, obesity, smoking, a family history of aneurysm and early heart disease.
Angina
Angina is a problem associated with heart disease. The U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health or NIH states that angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs when a person's cardiac or heart muscle fails to get adequate oxygenated blood. The NIH notes that angina can feel like an intense pressure or a squeezing pain in a person's chest, or that it may feel like indigestion, and a person may also feel pain or discomfort in her shoulders, arms, neck, jaw or back. According to the NIH, angina is symptomatic of coronary artery disease, which is the most common type of heart disease. CAD develops when plaque accumulates in the coronary arteries or the arteries that supply the heart itself with blood, oxygen and nutrients. Although chest pain is a hallmark of angina, not all chest pain is caused by angina. If a person is experiencing chest pain, it's important for her to visit her health care provider.
Arrhythmias
Arrhythmias are a problem associated with heart disease. According to the American Heart Association or AHA, "Acquired heart disease--such as damage caused to the heart muscle by a heart attack--is the most important factor making a person prone to arrhythmias." The AHA defines arrhythmias as any alteration in the heart's normal sequence of electrical impulses, and reports that arrhythmias may cause the electrical impulses to happen too quickly, too slowly or erratically, which can cause a person's heart to beat in an unusual manner. When the heart beats in an irregular manner, it can't pump blood efficiently, and if the body's organs—such as the lungs and the brain, do not receive a sufficient quantity of blood, their function will be impaired and they may even shut down. According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, a division of the National Institutes of Health, the most common type of arrhythmia is premature heart beats, which are almost always harmless.
