The key difference between coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease is that coronary heart disease is a disease of the blood vessels supplying blood to the heart muscle, while cardiovascular disease is a group of diseases related to the heart and blood vessels supplying blood to the heart muscle, brain, arm and legs, damages to the heart muscle and heart valves, malformations of the heart structure from birth, and blood clots in the leg veins.
Coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease are two associated conditions. This is because cardiovascular disease is a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, which include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Coronary Heart Disease
3. What is Cardiovascular Disease
4. Similarities – Coronary Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Disease
5. Coronary Heart Disease vs Cardiovascular Disease in Tabular Form
6. Summary – Coronary Heart Disease vs Cardiovascular Disease
What is Coronary Heart Disease?
Coronary heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle. The main symptoms of coronary heart disease may include chest pain, shortness of breath, severe pain throughout the body, feeling faint, and nausea. Coronary heart disease is triggered by lifestyle factors such as smoking and regularly drinking too much alcohol and underlying conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Moreover, coronary heart disease is diagnosed through medical and family history, blood tests, treadmill tests, radionuclide scans, CT scans, MRI scans, and coronary angiography. Furthermore, treatment options for coronary heart disease may include lifestyle changes such as exercise and stopping smoking, medicines for high blood pressure, cholesterol (statins) and diabetes, angioplasty, and surgery.
What is Cardiovascular Disease?
Cardiovascular disease refers to a group of diseases, including coronary heart disease (disease related to heart and blood vessels supplying the heart muscle), cerebrovascular disease (disease related to blood vessels supplying the brain), peripheral arterial disease (disease related to blood vessels supplying the arm and legs), rheumatic heart disease (damages to the heart muscle and heart valves), congenital heart disease (malformations of the heart structure from birth), deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism (blood clots in leg veins).
The signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease may include pain or discomfort in the centre of the chest, pain or discomfort in the arms, shoulder, elbows, jaw or back, difficulty breathing, nausea or vomiting, light-headedness, a cold sweat, skin turning pale, sudden weakness of the face, arm or leg, confusion, difficulty seeing with one or both eyes, difficulty walking, severe headache, and unconsciousness. Cardiovascular disease is triggered by an unhealthy diet (high salt and low in vegetables), physical inactivity, tobacco use, recreational drug use, harmful use of alcohol and underlying conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and high blood lipids.
Moreover, cardiovascular disease is diagnosed through medical history, physical examination, blood test, electrocardiogram, and imaging scans (CT scan and MRI scan). Treatment options for cardiovascular disease may include lifestyle changes (stopping smoking, cessation of tobacco and exercising), medications like aspirin, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, statins and surgeries such as coronary artery bypass, balloon angioplasty, valve repair and replacement, heart transplantation, and artificial heart operations.
What are the Similarities Between Coronary Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Disease?
- Coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease are two associated conditions.
- Coronary heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease.
- Both these conditions may have similar symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, weakness, confusion, unconsciousness, etc.
- Both these conditions can be triggered by unhealthy lifestyle choices and underlying conditions.
- Both these conditions can be diagnosed through physical examination and imaging testing.
- They are mainly treated through specific medications and surgeries.
What is the Difference Between Coronary Heart Disease and Cardiovascular Disease?
Coronary heart disease is a disease of the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle, while cardiovascular disease is a group of diseases of the heart and blood vessels supplying the heart muscle, brain, arm and legs, damages to the heart muscle and heart valves, malformations of the heart structure from birth and blood clots in the leg veins. This is the key difference between coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, coronary heart disease is triggered by lifestyle factors such as smoking and regularly drinking too much alcohol and underlying conditions like high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes. On the other hand, cardiovascular disease is triggered by an unhealthy diet (high salt and low in vegetables), physical inactivity, tobacco use, recreational drug use, harmful use of alcohol and underlying conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and high blood lipids.
Summary – Coronary Heart Disease vs Cardiovascular Disease
Coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease are two related medical conditions. This is because coronary heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease. Both these conditions occur due to defects in the heart. Coronary heart disease is associated with defects in the blood vessels supplying the heart muscle. Cardiovascular disease is a group of diseases of the heart and blood vessels supplying the heart muscle, brain, arm and legs and also damages to the heart muscle and heart valves, malformations of the heart structure from birth and blood clots in the leg veins. This summarizes the difference between coronary heart disease and cardiovascular disease.
Reference:
1. “Coronary Heart Disease.”NHS Choices.
2. “Cardiovascular Diseases (Cvds).” World Health Organization.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Blausen 0259 CoronaryArteryDisease 02” By Blausen.com staff (2014). “Medical gallery of Blausen Medical 2014”. WikiJournal of Medicine 1 (2). DOI:10.15347/wjm/2014.010. ISSN 2002-4436. – Own work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Human Heart and Circulatory System” By Bryan Brandenburg – (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia