Why Do People Develop Heart Disease?

Coronary heart disease tops the cause of death in the world, so many people are worried about this disease. One way to avoid this dreaded condition is to be aware of the actual causes of heart disease. There are a number of reasons why a person might have a heart condition. It is important that people know about these reasons:

1. Genetics

Genetics play a major role in developing heart disease as I have already mentioned in the post Why Family History Matters to Your Heart Health. You may feel that it's somewhat unfair that some people can eat what they want, smoke whenever they want, and don't do any exercise at all. Yet it seems that there's no ill effect on the health of their heart.

Unfortunately, most people are not so lucky because of differences in heredity.  If your family has a history of heart disease, it's very likely for you to develop heart disease, particularly if you do not live a healthy lifestyle.

2. Coronary artery disease

The most frequent cause of heart disease is coronary artery disease.  It is a condition characterized by narrowing or blockage of the blood vessels.  This adds pressure on the heart and could even cut off the blood supply to the heart.  When this happens to a person's blood vessels in the heart, he or she might have a heart attack.

3. Problem with the valves of the heart

Another cause of heart disease is trouble with the valves of your heart.  Your heart has valves within it that controls the flow of blood in one direction and stops blood from flowing back to a different chamber.  If your valves are weakened or damaged, you may have to deal with heart disease.

4. Diabetes

Diabetes is a major contributor to developing heart disease in adults.  When people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, they are even more at risk of having heart disease.  In most of the cases that a person is diagnosed with diabetes, he or she may already have atherosclerosis. That means, diabetics are more likely to have heart disease and more prone to experience a heart attack.  Actually, the risk of heart problems in diabetics is twice the risk people who are not bogged down with blood sugar problems.

5. Congenital heart defects

Congenital heart defects are defects in the heart that some people are born with. Some defects are heart murmurs, a hole in the heart or other deformations in the structure of the heart.  Surgical treatment is required while the person is a very young child.  Monitoring the person's heart condition is lifetime and it is a must to practice healthy lifestyle habits to avert worsening problems.

6. Specific illnesses

Aside from the above problems, people may also develop a heart condition because of specific illnesses like rheumatic fever, which causes the accumulation of scar tissue in the heart.  Another example is endocarditis, which is attributable to bacterial infections in the heart.