- Main causes
- 1. Atherosclerosis
- 2. High blood pressure
- 3. Diabetes
- 4. Obesity
- 5. Smoking
- 6. Drug and alcohol use
- Other causes
- Consequences of heart attack
Infarction is the interruption of blood flow to the heart that can be caused by the accumulation of fat in the arteries, increased blood pressure and obesity, for example. Find out everything about acute myocardial infarction.
Infarction can happen in men and women, being more common after 40 years of age. To reduce the risk of suffering a heart attack, what you can do is adopt healthy lifestyle habits, such as a balanced diet and regular exercise. Thus, in addition to preventing infarction, other cardiovascular diseases are prevented, such as arrhythmias and mitral insufficiency, for example.
Main causes
Infarction can be caused by the obstruction of the passage of blood to the heart due to some factors, such as:
1. Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is the main cause of infarction and is caused mainly by the excessive consumption of foods rich in fat and cholesterol, which favors the formation of fatty plaques inside the arteries, preventing normal blood flow and causing infarction. Learn more about the main causes of atherosclerosis.
2. High blood pressure
High blood pressure, also called arterial hypertension, can favor myocardial infarction because, due to the increase in blood pressure inside the arteries, the heart starts to work harder, thickening the artery wall and, thus, making it difficult for blood to pass.
Arterial hypertension can be caused by several factors, such as excessive salt consumption, obesity, physical inactivity or even due to some genetic alteration. See what the symptoms are and how to treat high blood pressure.
3. Diabetes
People with diabetes are more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, since usually associated with diabetes there is atherosclerosis and unhealthy lifestyle habits, such as unbalanced eating and lack of physical exercise.
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which there is a decrease in the production of insulin or resistance to its activity in the body, leading to the accumulation of glucose in the blood. Understand what diabetes is and how treatment is done.
4. Obesity
Obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, because it is a disease characterized by a sedentary lifestyle and excessive consumption of foods rich in sugar and fat, which favors the development of several diseases such as diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension, which favor the occurrence of infarction. Learn about the complications of obesity and how to protect yourself.
5. Smoking
The frequent and constant use of cigarettes can lead to inflammation in the blood vessel wall and consequent stiffening, which makes the heart work harder, favoring infarction, in addition to stroke, thrombosis and aneurysm. In addition, cigarettes promote greater absorption of cholesterol and thus stimulate the production of new fatty plaques, that is, it favors atherosclerosis. See other diseases caused by smoking.
6. Drug and alcohol use
Both the use of illicit drugs and the excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can increase the chances of having a heart attack due to increased blood pressure. See what are the effects of alcohol on the body.
Other causes
In addition to the aforementioned causes, infarction can also be a consequence of psychological disorders, such as depression or stress, for example, the use of some medications and, mainly, sedentary lifestyle, since it is usually associated with unhealthy eating habits. Check out some tips to get out of sedentary lifestyle.
Watch the following video and see what you should eat to avoid a heart attack:
Consequences of heart attack
The consequences of a heart attack depend on the severity of the condition. When the infarction affects only a small area of the heart, the possibility of having no consequence is greater, however, in most cases, the main consequence of the infarction is the change in the contraction of the heart muscle, which can be classified as:
- Mild systolic dysfunction; Moderate systolic dysfunction; Important or severe systolic dysfunction.
Other possible consequences of infarction are cardiac arrhythmias or disturbance in the functioning of the mitral valve, causing mitral insufficiency. Understand what mitral insufficiency is.
