During the aging process, the structure of the heart changes, which can lead to arrhythmias. The heart valves also degenerate and no longer function properly, leading to heart disease.

In addition, the blood vessels of the elderly also lose the necessary elasticity, which is one of the mechanisms that cause high blood pressure, and at the same time, forces the heart to work harder to pump blood into the arteries. These are the reasons why the elderly are susceptible to cardiovascular diseases.

During the aging process, the structure of the heart changes, which can lead to arrhythmias. The heart valves also degenerate and no longer function properly, leading to heart disease

Common cardiovascular diseases in the elderly

Heart failure

This is a condition in which the heart is weakened, causing the ventricles to be unable to pump blood or receive blood due to physical damage to the heart or heart dysfunction. Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome caused by many different underlying causes, not a specific disease.

When sick, the cardiovascular system cannot supply enough blood to the cells in the body. This condition persists and becomes more and more serious, making the patient easily tired, have chest pain, have difficulty breathing, or may have a cough. These symptoms often appear clearly when the patient performs strenuous activities such as walking, climbing stairs, carrying heavy objects, exercising with heavy exercises… Severe heart failure can cause fluid retention leading to pulmonary congestion and peripheral edema.

Arrhythmia

Arrhythmia, there are many different types of diseases, some are not too dangerous such as atrial fibrillation, some are very dangerous and need immediate treatment such as ventricular tachycardia. However, all types of arrhythmia have similar symptoms such as palpitations, rapid heartbeat, sometimes dizziness and fainting.

Arterial disease

Elderly people with this disease often have many causes such as blood pressure, alcohol addiction, smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol… When suffering from coronary artery disease, the patient has severe chest pain, a burning sensation in the chest, sharp pain accompanied by difficulty breathing, and sweating, palpitations, dizziness… more severe cases lead to myocardial infarction causing death. The process of cholesterol and other substances depositing on the walls of coronary arteries is called atherosclerosis. If the atherosclerotic plaque ruptures, platelets will aggregate to form a blood clot. This blood clot can block the blood flow in the artery, leading to a heart attack called angina.

Heart attack

A heart attack (also known as myocardial infarction) occurs when a branch of the coronary artery that nourishes the heart muscle is suddenly blocked by a blood clot, causing ischemia. Due to the loss of blood supply, part of the heart muscle will die. Myocardial necrosis causes chest pain and leads to electrical instability of the heart muscle, with the manifestation of ventricular fibrillation (the ventricles contract chaotically, pumping blood ineffectively, causing ischemia of the brain). For some reason, the surface of the atherosclerotic plaque can peel off, creating conditions for the formation of a blood clot right on the surface of this plaque, causing the blood flow in the coronary artery to be completely blocked, leading to a heart attack.

Protect and prevent cardiovascular disease in the elderly

In addition to the prescribed diet and exercise schedule, the elderly need to equip themselves with basic knowledge about cardiovascular disease. Therefore, the patient and his family need to consider carefully and take the initiative in prevention.

• Need to have a balanced diet and exercise regimen.
• Increase green vegetables and fiber, fresh fruit.
• Limit the intake of stimulants.
• Exercise regularly and reasonably. At this age, the elderly should walk about 30 minutes a day to help stabilize blood pressure, reduce excess fat, improve respiratory and circulatory function…
• Patients need to limit salty foods such as fish sauce, fish sauce, dried fish, salt and MSG (containing sodium) in cooking.
• Control fat by using vegetable oil instead of animal fat, limit fried dishes, increase boiled and steamed dishes.
• Quit smoking.
• Drink enough water
• Choose food groups such as pork, fish, egg whites, soybeans, beef which are sources of protein with low fat content. Avoid eating organs, fatty pork, meats and fried foods… do not abstain too much leading to malnutrition and not having enough health to fight the disease.
• If you experience chest pain, irregular heartbeat, sudden increase or decrease in blood pressure, call relatives to help take you to the doctor.