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Understanding Heart Disease in Its Many Forms

Heart disease is a broad term that actually describes a number of different afflictions of the heart. Under the heart disease umbrella, there are at least 8-10 types of diseases and all of them together are the primary cause of death in America as well as the United Kingdom and Canada. To understand this vicious killer, you have to understand the different types of heart disease. Here is a breakdown of some of those leading types:

1. Coronary artery disease - This type of heart disease afflicts the arteries and is produced by the build-up of plaque within the arterial walls that provide the oxygen-rich supply of blood to the myocardium. Some of the symptoms of this plaque build-up within the arterial walls includes heart attack and angina (chest pain). Half a million people die each year in the United States from this heart disease.

2. Cardiovascular disease - This type of heart disease encompasses all of the diseases that affect the blood vessel system, specifically the ones that lead to and from the heart as well as anything that affects the heart itself. Men predominantly get cardiovascular disease that affects the muscle of the heart while the women suffer primarily from affected blood vessels. Atherosclerosis is one type of cardiovascular disease and conditions such as diabetes and hypertension also contribute to this form.

3. Cardiomyopathy - This heart disease affects the muscles of the heart itself called the myocardium. There are two sub-parts to this particular type of heart disease - extrinsic and internal cardiomyopathy. In other words, the disease could affect the outer part of the muscles or the inner part. Metobolic disease, nutritional deficiencies, congenital defects, alcoholism and other conditions can cause cardiomyopathy. This condition can cause sudden death in some seemingly normal people or even arrhythmia, an irregular heartbeat.

4. Congestive heart failure - Also sometimes called congestive cardiac failure or just heart failure, this type of heart disease is the result of any physical abnormality which could impair the function of the heart itself, such as the ability to properly pumped oxygenated blood throughout the body or even the ability for the heart to fill up with blood in order to pump it out.

5. Ischaemic heart disease - The primary cause of this type of heart disease is the inability to supply enough blood to all the body organs to function properly. This disease is related to coronary artery disease and can be caused by years of smoking, high cholesterol levels, hypertension and more.

6. Hypertensive heart disease - This brand of heart disease is the result of consistent high blood pressure. Various conditions can contribute to this type of disease, particularly diabetes and obesity.

7. Valvular disease - This type of heart disease involves one or more valves within the heart by impairing function. There is the aortic valve and mitral valve located on the left side while the pulmonic and tricuspid valve is located on the right hand side. Any or all of these can become impaired causing this disease.

8. Inflammatory heart disease - When the tissue surrounding the heart or the heart itself swells or becomes inflamed, this causes inflammatory heart disease. There are several types: myocarditis which is inflammation of the heart muscle and endocarditis which is the inflammation of the heart valves or other inside layers of the heart muscle.