What are the causes and risk factors of coronary heart disease?

  Current research has not found the exact cause of coronary heart disease, and many factors can cause coronary heart disease, which means that the cause of coronary heart disease is multifactorial, therefore, these causes are also called high-risk factors. There are many risk factors for coronary heart disease, such as age, gender, family history [i.e. genetic factors], hypertension, smoking, hyperlipidemia, etc. Among these factors, the relationship between hypertension, smoking, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease is relatively clear, while other risk factors, such as hypertriglyceridemia, hypercysteinemia and obesity, are still being studied in depth.  1, hypercholesterolemia: Hypercholesterolemia is the earliest proven risk factor for coronary heart disease, and it is also one of the most harmful risk factors for coronary heart disease among all risk factors. In the interventional treatment of coronary heart disease cholesterol as the number one treatment.  2, smoking: smoking is one of the most important risk factors for coronary heart disease. If smoking and other risk factors co-exist, there is also a significant synergistic harm effect. For example, the risk of cardiovascular disease is reduced by 35-40% in hypertensive patients who stop smoking after smoking 1 pack of cigarettes per day. Studies have also shown that passive smokers have a significantly increased risk of cardiovascular death. Smoking increases the risk of coronary artery spasm by 2.4 times. The risk of acute myocardial infarction or sudden coronary death is 2.7 times higher in male smokers than in non-smokers, and 4.7 times higher in women.  3, hypertension: hypertension as a risk factor, and smoking compared to no less. China is a large country of hypertension, according to the Ministry of Health statistics, China’s hypertension patients about 110 million, but only 30% received drug treatment.  4, diabetes: diabetes is also one of the risk factors for coronary heart disease. Diabetes affects almost all aspects from atherosclerosis formation to cardiac death. In recent years the incidence of diabetes in the population is rapidly abnormal, and extremely serious is the majority of diabetic patients do not know they have diabetes, not effectively treated, but only after the emergence and onset of diabetes detected, at this time has delayed treatment.  5, gender: gender is one of the most obvious risk factors for coronary heart disease. The incidence of coronary heart disease is several times higher in men than in women, which may be mainly due to sex hormones. The incidence of coronary heart disease in pre-menopausal women is significantly lower than that in men, and increases abruptly after menopause, and in old age the incidence of coronary heart disease in men and women is similar.  6, age: age factor is also more obvious risk factors of coronary heart disease. As we grow older, various risk factors accumulate, and the damage to the body accumulates, and when the accumulation reaches a certain level, clinical symptoms are manifested. In addition, the age factor is also the most important factor in the death of coronary heart disease caused by various risk factors, and the mortality rate in the acute phase is significantly higher in elderly patients with heart machine infarction. Therefore, it is more important to actively control other risk factors in the elderly population.  7. Family history: Family genetic predisposition is the third uncontrollable risk factor for coronary heart disease. Although coronary heart disease is not as obviously hereditary as other genetic diseases, it has a clear genetic predisposition. People with a clear genetic predisposition are more likely to develop coronary heart disease when exposed to other risk factors for the same length of time and to the same degree. Studies have found that people with a family history of coronary heart disease have a 2.0 to 3.9-fold increased risk of coronary heart disease and a 2.2-fold increased risk of myocardial infarction, and that coronary heart disease occurs several years earlier and with more severe coronary lesions than in people without a family history of coronary heart disease. The high incidence of coronary heart disease in people with a family history of coronary heart disease may be the result of genetic effects other risk factors.  8, mental factors: mental factors have an important role in the development of coronary heart disease. The incidence of coronary heart disease is higher in people with agitation, depression and anxiety, type A personality, i.e., aggressive and aggressive. On the contrary, the incidence of coronary heart disease is relatively low in people with a less competitive B-type personality. This is mainly because long-term mental tension or emotional depression will make the body’s sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve activity between the balance is disrupted, resulting in increased sympathetic nerve activity, the release of catecholamines increased, blood pressure increased, thus increasing the incidence of coronary heart disease or make the original condition aggravated.  9, obesity: whether obesity is a susceptibility factor for coronary heart disease, although there is still controversy and inconclusive, but obesity is definitely one of the risk factors for coronary heart disease. Obesity can lead to increased blood pressure, blood triglycerides, cholesterol levels increase and have a protective effect of high-density lipoprotein level reduction, but also can cause hyperinsulinemia. It can be said that obesity is related to all the susceptibility factors of coronary heart disease except smoking. There is an old saying in China that “it is hard to buy a thin old man”, which does have some scientific truth.  In short, the more risk factors a person has, the more likely to develop coronary heart disease, so to stay away from the “killer” coronary heart disease, we must stay away from these risk factors, of course, age, gender and family history is no way to change.