{"id":2363,"date":"2020-03-19T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2020-03-19T17:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/heart-diseases-an-overview\/"},"modified":"2026-10-20T09:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T09:11:16","slug":"heart-diseases-an-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/heart-diseases-an-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Heart Diseases: An Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Stefania&#8217;s Disease<br\/><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Disease of the heart\u2019s arteries. Most cases of heart disease are related to the buildup of plaque in the arteries\u2014that is, the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood. This condition, known as atherosclerosis (also known as hardening of the arteries), depends on risk factors. This \u201cproblematic\u201d plaque consists of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and other substances found in the blood that cause localized inflammation. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart.org\/en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>American Heart Association<\/strong><\/a> compares this buildup to plumbing problems in buildings. Think of the buildup of material inside pipes, with the difference that in arteries, it forms not only on the walls but also inside them. Over time, the plaque hardens and narrows your arteries. This restricts blood flow to your organs and other parts of your body. Eventually, this narrowing can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or even death.        <\/p>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><br\/><strong>Hypertension \u2013 High Blood Pressure<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/>It is often called the \u201csilent killer.\u201d It is one of the main causes of many health problems and may go unnoticed, as it is rarely accompanied by symptoms. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/high-blood-pressure\/\"><strong>high blood pressure<\/strong><\/a> forces your heart to work much harder than it should to pump blood throughout your body. Over time, this pressure can lead to a heart attack, heart failure, or thickening of the heart muscle.   <\/p>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Congestive heart failure<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/>A progressive disease in which the heart muscles as a whole are unable to pump enough blood to the body\u2019s tissues and organs as they should. \u201cIn systolic heart failure,\u201d the heart\u2019s pumping and contraction function is impaired. Heart failure can also result from \u201cimpaired relaxation\u201d during the diastolic phase.  <\/p>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arrhythmias<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/>Irregular heart rhythms (e.g., atrial fibrillation). These come in various forms and may occur when the electrical activity that regulates your heartbeat is disrupted. This may be caused by:  <\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>hormonal imbalance<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>myocardial infarction<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>previous damage to heart tissue (e.g., from a previous heart attack)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>cardiac hypertrophy, in narrowed or blocked arteries<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/high-blood-pressure\/\">high blood pressure<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>smoking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>medications, drugs<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>stress<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/sleep-apnea-sleep-apnea\/\">sleep apnea<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/diabiti-iatreio\/\"><strong>diabetes mellitus<\/strong><\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>structural abnormalities of the heart.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Congenital Heart Diseases<\/strong> <\/h4>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br\/>Heart conditions caused by genetic factors that result in holes in the heart or other structural problems that affect the heart\u2019s ability to pump blood. These abnormalities are usually detected early\u2014sometimes even during the fetal stage\u2014but can also be diagnosed later in life, typically in adulthood. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stefania&#8217;s Disease Disease of the heart\u2019s arteries. Most cases of heart disease are related to the buildup of plaque in the arteries\u2014that is, the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood. This condition, known as atherosclerosis (also known as hardening of the arteries), depends on risk factors. This \u201cproblematic\u201d plaque consists of fat, cholesterol, calcium, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1916,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-general-cardiology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2365,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions\/2365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caremedic.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}