Cardiovascular Diseases Pathophysiology

Question: Describe about the Cardiovascular Diseases? Answer: Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most prevalent diseases in human. There are many causes of cardiovascular diseases including the genetic causes, high blood pressure and cholesterol. The genetic factor is associated with increased risk of developing the disease. There are two main ways to detect the involvement of genetic factor in the cardiovascular diseases that include checking the family history of the patient and genetic test. Mutation of the gene is the major cause of the genetic disease that can be inherited. A family history of the disease makes the person more susceptible to the development of the disease. So, in case of inherited cardiovascular disease; the physician recommends the modification of lifestyle in order to control the disease. As per the opinion of Baker (1997), cardiovascular disease can be associated with one or multiple gene. Another factor that contributes the development of the inherited disease is the nature of the associated gene i.e. whether the gene is recessive or dominant (Your gene your choices, ch:2, p-19). In case of dominant nature of the disease the risk is very high and in case of recessive gene the risk decreases many folds. Another associated factor is the strength of the gene, which indicates that increased risk is associated with strong expression of the gene (Your gene your choices, ch:3, p-30). As in case of the inherited cardiovascular disease the development of the disease is unavoidable, it is suggested to consider the lifestyle factors that increase the risk of the disease such as alcohol consumption, smoking, physical inactivity and intake of high calorie foods. According to World Heart Federation, tobacco kills about 6 million people every year and about 10% of all cardiovascular diseases are due to smoking (World-heart-federation.org, 2015). According to a study carried out by Abid, Tounsi, Kharrat, Sahnoun Kammoun (2013), the risk of cardiovascular diseases increases by 5 folds in case of younger smokers aged below 50 years. Even the passive smokers have 25- 30% increased risk of having cardiovascular diseases. References: A Report of the Surgeon General, (2015). A Report of the Surgeon General How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease (pp. 10-11). USA: 2010. Baker, C. (1997). Your genes, your choices. Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science. Abid, L., Tounsi, A., Kharrat, I., Sahnoun, M., Kammoun, S. (2013). 043: Promoting smoking cessation during hospitalization for coronary artery disease. Archives Of Cardiovascular Diseases Supplements, 5(1), 15. doi:10.1016/s1878-6480(13)70973-x World-heart-federation.org, (2015). Tobacco: the totally avoidable risk factor of cardiovascular disease | World Heart Federation. Retrieved 12 June 2015, from https://www.world-heart-federation.org/press/fact-sheets/tobacco-totally-avoidable-risk-factor-of-cvd/