Coronary Heart Disease
What is coronary heart disease?
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a chronic (or long term) condition that affects many people. For someone who is 40 years old, the risk of having CHD at some time in the future is one in two for men and one in three for women.
Coronary heart disease is a major cause of disability, with many people reporting problems or needing assistance with daily activities, and is the most common cause of death in Australia.
If you have CHD, the blood vessels that carry oxygen and nutrients to your heart muscle are clogged and narrowed. If these vessels (the coronary arteries) become too clogged, the blood supply to your heart muscle is reduced, which can lead to symptoms such as angina. If a blood clot forms in the narrowed artery and completely blocks the blood supply to part of your heart, it can cause a life-threatening heart attack.
While coronary heart disease can't be cured, there are things you can do to lower your risk of developing it, or lower your risk of further heart problems if you do already have it.
To lower your coronary heart disease risk, it is important to:
- Take your medicines as prescribed by your doctor
- Be smoke free
- Enjoy healthy eating
- Be active every day
- Control blood pressure
- Achieve and maintain a healthy body weight
If you have diabetes, you should try to keep your blood glucose levels within the normal (non-diabetic) range to lower your coronary heart disease risk.