One of the most common complications of heart disease is heart failure. Other consequences of cardiovascular disease include:
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Aneurysm
- Peripheral artery disease
- Sudden cardiac arrest
Heart failure means that your heart isn't pumping blood as well as it should. It keeps working, but the body doesn't get all the blood and oxygen it needs.
Heart attacks occur when the blood flow to a part of the heart is blocked, often by a blood clot. If this clot cuts off the blood flow completely, the part of the heart muscle supplied by that artery can be damaged or destroyed.
Stroke occurs when there is not enough blood flow reaching the brain. Cardiovascular disease may cause the arteries feeding the brain to become narrow or blocked, leading to stroke.
Aneurysms are bulges in the walls of the artery. If an aneurysm bursts, it can cause life-threatening internal bleeding. Blood clots formed within an aneurysm may also dislodge and cause a block in an artery, which may in turn lead to a heart attack or stroke.
Peripheral artery disease occurs when the extremities – typically the legs – do not receive enough blood flow. This can cause pain and difficulty walking, also referred to as “claudication.”
Sudden cardiac arrest is a sudden and unexpected loss of heart function. It usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart, and almost always occurs in people with other heart problems, particularly coronary heart disease.
In the next section we look at how you can manage
high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease and help avoid potentially fatal conditions.
