Hypertensive heart disease refers to a thickening of the main heart muscle and arteries due to hypertension defined as BP=140/90. Hypertension affects 50 million people in the U.S. and is responsible for 251,000 deaths annually. Deaths occur from stroke, kidney failure and heart failure.
Heart failure refers to the failure of the heart to work as a pump and is the major cause of disability affecting 5 million people overall and 500,000 more people each year.
Valvular heart disease refers to an abnormality in one of the four valves that control blood flow through the heart and kills about 20,000 people annually. These valves can leak or close off.
Arrhythmia is the type of heart disease that can lead to sudden death and leads to about 38,000 deaths annually.
The major type of heart disease in this country affecting 13.2 million and which remains the number one killer of men and women is coronary artery disease (CHD) or hardening of the arteries that feed blood to the heart. Significant blockages in these arteries can cause heart attack or death of heart muscle, irregular heart rhythm and heart failure. CHD kills about 500,000 people (300,000 women) annually. Ten times as many women die of CHD than from breast cancer. About 1.2 million people have heart attacks every year. 43 percent of these are women.
