Heart Disease

H Heart disease is the commonly used, catch-all phrase for a number of disorders affecting both the heart and blood vessels. A more apt term is cardiovascular disease, which represents America's worst health scourge. More than 68 million Americans of all ages (about 27 percent of the total U.S. population) are afflicted with some kind of cardiovascular disease. When considered together heart and circulatory system diseases, including stroke, account for more than one-half of all deaths each year in the United States, a total of more than one million people. Cardiovascular disease comprises several symptoms and disorders: coronary artery disease (including atherosclerosis, angina pecto-ris, and heart attack), hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, and congenital heart disease.