Original source overview
What is heart disease?Heart disease is a general term that includes many types of heart problems. It's a type of cardiovascular disease, which means heart and blood vessel disease.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, but there are ways to prevent and manage many types of heart disease.
What are the types of heart disease?There are many different types of heart disease. Some you may be born with, called congenital heart disease. Other types develop during your lifetime.
Coronary artery disease (also called coronary heart disease) is the most common type of heart disease. It happens slowly over time when a sticky substance called plaque builds up in the arteries that supply your heart muscle with blood. The plaque narrows or blocks blood flow to the heart muscle and can lead to other heart problems:
• Angina - chest pain from lack of blood flow • Heart attacks - when part of the heart muscle dies from loss of blood flow • Heart failure - when your heart can't pump enough blood to meet your body's needs • Arrhythmia - a problem with the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat
Other types of heart diseases may affect your heart valves or heart muscle (cardiomyopathy).
What causes heart diseases?The causes of heart disease depend on the type of disease. Some possible causes include lifestyle, genetics, infections, medicines, and other diseases.
Who is more likely to develop heart diseases?There are many different factors that can make you more likely to develop heart disease. Some of these factors you can change, but others you cannot.
• Age. Your risk of heart disease goes up as you get older. • Sex. Some factors may affect heart disease risk differently in women than in men. • Family history and genetics. A family history of early heart disease raises your risk. And research has shown that some genes are linked to a higher risk of certain heart diseases. • Race/ethnicity. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in most racial and ethnic groups in the United States. However, certain groups have higher risks than others. This includes Black people, White people, and American Indian/Alaska Native people. • Lifestyle habits. Over time, unhealthy lifestyle habits can raise your risk of heart disease. These can include:
• Eating a diet high in saturated fats, refined carbohydrates, and salt. • Not getting enough physical activity. • Drinking too much alcohol. • Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke. • Too much stress.
• Having other medical conditions can raise your risk of heart diseases. These conditions include:
• High blood pressure. • High cholesterol levels. • Diabetes. • Obesity. • Autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. • Chronic kidney disease. • Metabolic syndrome.
What are the symptoms of heart disease?Your symptoms will depend on the type of heart disease you have. You may not have symptoms at first. In some cases, you may not know you have heart disease until you have a complication such as a heart attack.
How are heart diseases diagnosed?To find out if you have heart disease, your health care provider will:
• Ask about your medical history, including your symptoms • Ask about your family health history, including relatives who have had heart disease • Do a physical exam • Likely run heart tests and blood tests
In some cases, your provider may refer you to a cardiologist (a doctor who specializes in heart diseases) for tests, diagnosis, and care.
What are the treatments for heart disease?Treatment plans for heart disease depend on the type of heart disease you have, how serious your symptoms are, and what other health conditions you have. Possible treatments may include:
• Heart-healthy lifestyle changes • Medicines • Procedures or surgeries • Cardiac rehabilitation
Can heart diseases be prevented?You may be able to lower your risk of certain heart diseases by making heart-healthy lifestyle changes and managing any other medical conditions you have.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Encyclopedic background — Wikipedia
The following selected excerpts provide background on “Cardiovascular disease”. This related background source does not cover every aspect of the specific topic “Heart Diseases”; population-specific details and decisions should be checked in the original topic source. They are not a substitute for the source overview or current local clinical guidance. Each excerpt below comes from the fixed Wikipedia revision [W1].
Definition and overview [W1]
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs include coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, valvular heart disease (e.g. rheumatic heart disease), cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, congenital heart disease, carditis, aortic aneurysms, peripheral artery disease, thromboembolic disease, and venous thrombosis.
The underlying mechanisms vary depending on the disease. It is estimated that dietary risk factors are associated with 53% of CVD deaths. Coronary artery disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease involve atherosclerosis. This may be caused by high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, high blood cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, poor diet, lack of exercise, excessive alcohol consumption, and poor sleep, among other things. High blood pressure is estimated to account for approximately 13% of CVD deaths, while tobacco accounts for 9%, diabetes 6%, lack of exercise 6%, and obesity 5%. Rheumatic heart disease may follow untreated strep throat.
It is estimated that up to 90% of CVD may be preventable. Prevention of CVD involves improving risk factors through: healthy eating, exercise, avoidance of tobacco smoke and limiting alcohol intake. Treating risk factors, such as high blood pressure, blood lipids and diabetes is also beneficial. Treating people who have strep throat with antibiotics can decrease the risk of rheumatic heart disease. The use of aspirin in people who are otherwise healthy is of unclear benefit.
Types [W1]
There are many cardiovascular diseases involving the blood vessels. They are known as vascular diseases.
Peripheral arterial disease – a disease of blood vessels that supply blood to the arms and legs
Cerebrovascular disease – a disease of blood vessels that supply blood to the brain (includes stroke)
Risk factors [W1]
There are many risk factors for heart diseases: age, sex, tobacco use, physical inactivity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, unhealthy diet, genetic predisposition and family history of cardiovascular disease, raised blood pressure (hypertension), raised blood sugar (diabetes mellitus), raised blood cholesterol (hyperlipidemia), undiagnosed celiac disease, psychosocial factors, poverty and low educational status, poor sleep, and air pollution. While the individual contribution of each risk factor varies between different communities or ethnic groups, the overall contribution of these risk factors is very consistent. Some of these risk factors, such as age, sex or family history/genetic predisposition, are immutable; however, many important cardiovascular risk factors are modifiable by lifestyle change, social change, drug treatment (for example prevention of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes). People with obesity are at increased risk of atherosclerosis of the coronary arteries.
Pathophysiology [W1]
Population-based studies show that atherosclerosis, the major precursor of cardiovascular disease, begins in childhood. The Pathobiological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth (PDAY) study demonstrated that intimal lesions appear in all the aortas and more than half of the right coronary arteries of youths aged 7–9 years.
Obesity and diabetes mellitus are linked to cardiovascular disease, as are a history of chronic kidney disease and hypercholesterolaemia. In fact, cardiovascular disease is the most life-threatening of the diabetic complications and diabetics are two- to four-fold more likely to die of cardiovascular-related causes than nondiabetics.
Reading this topic in context
Use “Heart Diseases” as a starting point for a focused discussion, rather than treating every statement in the broader encyclopedia article as applying to you. The original source overview and the background excerpts answer different questions: the overview explains the health topic for readers, while the encyclopedia supplies terminology and general context. Keep a record of which questions concern symptoms, a confirmed diagnosis, prevention, or an existing treatment. This helps a healthcare professional address the relevant issue without relying on an internet label.
Questions to take to a professional
1. Which specific heart or blood-vessel condition is being considered?
2. Which tests and symptoms determine my next steps?
Evidence, scope and next steps
The health-topic overview is attributed to MedlinePlus / the National Library of Medicine at the original topic link below. Wikipedia [W1] is a secondary background source; its references can support further reading, but their presence is not evidence that WellPrimer has independently reviewed every study. No clinical review, guideline certification or NLM endorsement is claimed. For screening intervals, diagnostic thresholds, pregnancy or child-specific advice and treatment choices, check current guidance in your country with a qualified professional. Do not start, stop or change a prescribed medicine based on encyclopedia excerpts. New or worsening symptoms need appropriate clinical assessment rather than more reading alone.
Attribution and reuse
[W1] Wikipedia contributors, “Cardiovascular disease”. Version 1378798392, edited 2026-10-06. Retrieved 2026-10-16. Fixed revision: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cardiovascular_disease&oldid=1378798392. Contributor history: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cardiovascular_disease&action=history. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ .
The MedlinePlus health-topic summary retains its original attribution. Wikipedia excerpts and the added compilation/commentary are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0; selections, section ordering and editorial reading prompts have been added. No images are reused. This is an educational compilation, not a clinician-reviewed guideline.