Pathophysiology Cardiovascular Diseases

Question: Write an essay on Cardiovascular Diseases? Answer: Cardiovascular diseases have become a common disease in recent times. There are several factors that are associated with the development of the disease and these include genetic factor, high blood pressure and cholesterol. The involvement of genetic factor can be determined either from the genetic tests or from the family history. The disease can be developed either through the mutation of the gene or from any inherited mutated gene. A person having a family history of cardiovascular disease is prone to the development of the disease due to the inherited genetic factors. In these cases, it is recommended to adapt some measures in order to decrease the risk of getting the disease. According to Baker (1997), the disease can be caused by a single gene or many genes can associate to cause a disease. Another factor that is associated with the inherited diseases include whether the inherited gene is dominant or recessive (Your gene your choices, ch-2, p 19). If the gene is recessive, then the chance of development of the diseases is very low, again if the gene is dominant, then there is increased risk of disease development. The strength of the gene is another factor, in which stronger expression is associated with increased risk (Your gene your choices, ch-3, p 30). Changing the lifestyle of a person with inherited risk of developing cardiovascular disease can help the person to avoid heart attack or stroke. The lifestyle factors that increase the risk include tobacco smoking, lack of physical activity and having high fat diets (Heidemann et al., 2007). All these factors are associated with increased risk. Changing these life style habits is associated with the reduced risk, greater life span and better life. The studies have shown that about 10% of all cardiovascular disease is due to smoking. There is an increased risk of 25- 30% in persons who smoke (World-heart-federation.org, 2015). References: Heidemann, C., Hoffmann, K., Klipstein-Grobusch, K., Weikert, C., Pischon, T., Hense, H., Boeing, H. (2007). Potentially modifiable classic risk factors and their impact on incident myocardial infarction: results from the EPICPotsdam study. European Journal Of Cardiovascular Prevention Rehabilitation, 14(1), 65-71. doi:10.1097/01.hjr.0000238392.19847.4c 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/ Baker, C. (1997). Your genes, your choices. Washington: American Association for the Advancement of Science.