The chances of having cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure or heart failure, are greater with aging, being more common after 60 years. This happens not only due to the natural aging of the body, which leads to decreased strength of the heart muscle and increased resistance in the blood vessels, but also due to the presence of other problems such as diabetes or high cholesterol.
Thus, it is advisable to go to the cardiologist annually, and if necessary, do heart exams, from the age of 45, in order to detect early changes that can be treated before a more serious problem develops. See when the cardiovascular check-up should be done.
1. High blood pressure
High blood pressure is the most common cardiovascular disease in the elderly, being diagnosed when blood pressure is above 140 x 90 mmHg in 3 consecutive evaluations. Understand how you can know if you have high blood pressure.
In most cases, this problem is caused by an excessive intake of salt in the diet associated with a sedentary lifestyle and family history. In addition, people with a well-balanced diet can develop the disease due to the aging of the vessels, which increase pressure on the heart and hinder cardiac contractility.
Although it rarely causes symptoms, high blood pressure needs to be controlled, as it can cause the development of other more serious problems, such as heart failure, aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, strokes, for example.
2. Heart failure
The development of heart failure is often related to the presence of uncontrolled high blood pressure or other untreated heart disease, which weakens the heart muscle and makes it difficult for the heart to work, causing difficulty in pumping blood.
This heart disease usually causes symptoms such as progressive tiredness, swelling of the legs and feet, a feeling of shortness of breath at bedtime and a dry cough that often causes the person to wake up at night. Although there is no cure, heart failure must be treated to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. See how the treatment is done.
3. Ischemic heart disease
Ischemic heart disease arises when the arteries that carry blood to the heart become clogged and fail to supply enough oxygen to the heart muscle. In this way, the heart walls can have their contraction reduced totally or partially, which leads to the difficulty of cardiac pumping.
Generally, heart disease is more frequent when you have high cholesterol, but people with diabetes or hypothyroidism are also more likely to have the disease that causes symptoms such as constant chest pain, palpitations and excessive tiredness after walking or climbing stairs.
This disease should always be treated by a cardiologist, avoiding the development of more serious complications, such as decompensated heart failure, arrhythmias or even, cardiac arrest.
4. Valvopathy
With advancing age, men over 65 and women over 75 years of age have an easier time accumulating calcium in the heart valves that are responsible for controlling the passage of blood within it and to the vessels of the body. When this happens, the valves become thicker and harden, opening with greater difficulty and hindering this passage of blood.
In these cases, the symptoms may take time to appear. With the difficulty of blood flow, it accumulates, leading to dilation of the heart walls, and consequent loss of strength of the cardiac muscle, which ends up resulting in heart failure.
Thus, people over 60, even if they do not have heart problems or symptoms, should have regular consultations with the cardiologist to assess the functioning of the heart, in order to detect silent problems or that are not yet very advanced.
5. Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia can occur at any age, however, it is more common in the elderly due to the reduction of specific cells and the degeneration of the cells that drive the nerve impulses that cause the heart to contract. In this way, the heart may start to contract irregularly or beat less often, for example.
Arrhythmia usually causes no symptoms and can only be identified after an electrocardiogram exam, for example. However, in the most severe cases, symptoms such as constant tiredness, a feeling of lump in the throat or chest pain, for example, may appear. In these cases, it is recommended to take the treatment to relieve the symptoms.
Understand how cardiac arrhythmias are treated.
