What is Heart Disease?

Heart and circulatory disease, or cardiovascular disease (CVD), includes all diseases of the heart and blood vessels.The two main diseases in this category are coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, but CVD also includes congenital heart disease (i.e. the heart deformities present at birth), valvular heart disease and a range of other diseases of the heart and blood vessels. CHD and stroke have a similar cause - a blockage in an artery.

Coronary heart disease (CHD) presents in two main forms: heart attack and angina. Angina is a pain in the chest brought on by exercise or emotion. It can be mild or severe and generally lasts less than 10 minutes. A heart attack usually causes similar pain but lasts longer and can be fatal. Angina is caused by a narrowing of the blood vessels to the heart muscle. A heart attack results when one of those vessels is entirely blocked by a blood clot.