Conference paper
Atherosclerosis – the Cause of Every Second Death in Croatia
Željko Reiner
Abstract
Atherosclerosis is a disease manifested through local artery wall thickenings called atheroma or plaques (French plaque – plate, since arteriosclerotic layers on the arterial wall often resemble fatty plates). In the majority of cases, atherosclerosis develops from damage to the arteries, so that together with cardiac and cardiovascular diseases, which occur as its effects, it remains the leading cause of death and a major problem for public health, not only in Croatia, but also in the majority of the countries worldwide. Cardiac and cardiovascular diseases caused mostly by atherosclerosis are diseases from which men suffer more frequently than women; out of 26,019 male Croatian residents, who died in 2009, 4,885 died of ischemic cardiac diseases, while 3,268 died of cerebrovascular diseases. The main objective in fighting cardiac and cardiovascular diseases is to prevent the occurrence of arteriosclerotic layers, which may be achieved by preventing and curing risk factors. Apart from the already well-known risk factors, such as increased total and LDL cholesterol, recently the attention has ever more been paid to others, such as blood fat disorder marked by increased triglycerides and reduced protective HDL cholesterol.
Keywords
atherosclerosis; arteries; cardiac diseases; cholesterol
Hrčak ID:
97367
URI
Publication date:
15.11.2012.
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