Complications
Various heart diseases can lead to multiple, life-threatening health complications. These include;
Heart Failure – Heart failure is one of the most common health complications of heart disease. It occurs when your heart is not able to pump adequate blood to meet your body’s requirements. Heart failure can be due to many forms of heart diseases, including valvular heart disease, heart defects, heart infections, cardiomyopathy, and cardiovascular disorders.
Heart Attack – A blood clot obstructing the flow of blood through a blood vessel that supplies the heart can lead to a heart attack, possibly injuring or killing a part of the heart muscle. Narrowing of the cardiac arteries due to atherosclerosis can also cause a heart attack.
Stroke – The same risk factors that cause heart diseases also can lead to a stroke, which happens when the blood vessels to your brain are congested or obstructed by a clot so that too little blood enters your brain. A stroke, or more commonly known as a brain hemorrhage is a medical emergency that can lead to the death of brain tissues within just a few minutes.
Aneurysm – It is a serious complication of a heart disease that can occur anywhere in your body. An aneurysm is a swelling in the wall of your blood vessels that typically occurs due to chronic high blood pressure. If an aneurysm ruptures, you may suffer life-threatening bleeding.
Peripheral Artery Disease – Atherosclerosis and other heart diseases can also cause peripheral artery disease. In this disease, your extremities (legs and arms) don’t receive sufficient blood supply. This produces symptoms, most prominently pain in the legs when walking.
Sudden Cardiac Arrest – Cardiac arrest is the abrupt, unexpected impairment in the heart function, consciousness, and breathing. Just like a stroke and burst aneurysm, sudden cardiac arrest is also a medical emergency that if not managed quickly, it is fatal, can cause sudden cardiac death.