Heart Disease
Signs and Symptoms
Heart diseases may be acute or chronic. They may be transient, relatively stable, or progressive. They may cause a variety of signs and symptoms that frequently change and/or worsen over time. Chronic heart diseases can have episodes with acutely worsened symptoms; these may resolve (either on their own or with treatment), persist, or even become life-threatening. People with early heart disease may experience few or vague symptoms, such as fatigue, shortness of breath with or without effort, dizziness, and/or nausea; however, these symptoms do not indicate the particular type of heart disease present. These symptoms may also be seen with a variety of other conditions. Other signs and complications that may arise from heart disease include:
- Arrhythmia
- Dilation – stretching of one or more of the heart chambers, causing their interiors to become larger because of increased pressure
- Embolism – blockage of a blood vessel by material that has traveled from a distant body site, most often a blood clot, but it can be due to fat or air or even amniotic fluid
- Inability to keep up with increased demands for oxygen and clearance of waste products, such as during physical activity
- Infarction – death of muscle cells due to blockage of blood flow
- Insufficient contraction – not emptying or filling completely
- Pain, frequently due to ischemia – a lack of sufficient oxygen because of reduced blood flow
- Regurgitation – a backflow of blood causing increased pressure on the blood vessels of the lungs and liver
- Stenosis – a narrowing of the openings of the heart
- Tissue death – permanent loss of heart tissue due to lack of oxygen, leading to scarring
- Ventricular hypertrophy – increased thickness of the walls of the heart, causing a decrease in the size of the chambers and also a decrease in the flexibility of the heart
Heart diseases may be due to:
- Alcohol use
- Amyloidosis – a rare, progressive disorder that occurs when abnormal proteins, called amyloids, are produced and deposited in various organs in the body such as the heart, causing tissue and organ damage
- Anabolic steroid use
- Atherosclerosis
- Autoimmune conditions
- Bacterial infection
- Cocaine use
- Congenital abnormalities
- Diabetes
- Diet, especially when high in saturated fat and cholesterol
- Hypertension
- Injury or trauma
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Smoking
- Thyroid dysfunction (under and overactive)
- Toxins, such as mercury, and sometimes chemotherapy drugs or HIV/AIDS drugs
- Viral infection
