Cardiovascular Disease

What is Cardiovascular Disease?

A systemic inflammatory process that results in hardening of the arteries due to calcium deposition in the inner lining of the vessel that restricts blood flow to the downstream organ. Also refers to a separate process resulting in aneurysm formation of blood vessels – a weakening of the blood vessel wall causing dilation that may cause arterial rupture

Who is affected by Cardiovascular Disease?

Anyone may be affected!

What are the risk factors for developing PVD?

Hypertension

Diabetes

• PAD is five times more common in patients with diabetes mellitus then without.
  30% of patients with diabetes mellitus have PAD and their risk of major limb loss is dramatic.
• Major limb amputation rate is FOUR TIMES HIGHER in patients with DM and PAD than with PAD alone

Elevated Cholesterol

Smoking

• Patients who smoke >15 cigarettes daily have a NINE-FOLD increase in risk of leg pain due to artery blockage

Genetics

• African-Americans Have the Same Risk as a Caucasian 20 year Pack A-Day Smoker for Developing Peripheral Arterial Disease

What are the signs and symptoms of Cardiovascular Disease?

Depends on the blood vessel affected
Legs – cramping with walking, ulcers, amputation

Neck – stroke
Kidney – renal failure, high blood pressure
Heart – Chest pain, heart attacks

More than half of patients with Cardiovascular Disease involving the peripheral arteries are asymptomatic.

Only about 30-40% of people Peripheral Cardiovascular disease patients have noticeable symptoms.

Even among patients with symptomatic disease, more than half of these patients may present with “atypical symptoms” including pain on exertion associated with reduced ambulatory activity and quality of life.

5 to 10% of patients with Peripheral Cardiovascular disease have are at risk for limb loss due to poor blood flow

Regardless of whether a patient has “symptoms” or not, those with Peripheral Cardiovascular Disease are at high risk of morbidity and mortality – usually from the effects of heart attacks or stokes.

Cardiovascular Disease and African-Americans

African American patients were nearly twice more likely to undergo leg amputations than white or other-race amputees.

African American adults are 50% more likely to have a stroke
African American men are 60% more likely to die from a stroke
African Americans stroke survivors are more likely to become disabled and have difficulty with activities of daily living

Southerners fare worse after stroke:
29% higher death rate for white men living in the South than white men not living in the South
For black men the stroke death rate in the south was 51% higher than the death rate in other regions.