Heart disease is a leading killer around the world and the top cause of death in the United States. It killed an estimated 17.9 million people in 2019, representing 32% of all deaths globally, according to the World Health Organization.
But not all heart disease is the same. It can affect the blood vessels to the heart or brain, heart muscles and valves, and other areas of the body. Cardiovascular diseases can require long-term treatment, or they can come on suddenly and seriously.
Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, died Thursday at the age of 54 after going into cardiac arrest and being rushed to a hospital.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, 24, went into cardiac arrest and collapsed on the field on January 2 during a game between the Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, his team said.
It’s not clear what caused Presley’s or Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.
What is cardiac arrest?
Cardiac arrest results from electrical disturbances that cause the heart to suddenly stop beating the way it should.
In cardiac arrest, death can result quickly if steps aren’t taken right away. “Cardiac arrest may be reversed if CPR is performed and a defibrillator shocks the heart and restores a normal heart rhythm within a few minutes,” the American Heart Association says.
More than 350,000 cardiac arrests happen outside a hospital in the United States each year, the association said.
A sudden, unexpected loss of heart function also results in a sudden loss of breathing and consciousness.
Cardiac arrest is not the same as a heart attack, although almost any known heart condition, including a heart attack, can cause cardiac arrest.
Another emergency that can lead to cardiac arrest, commotio cordis, is a disruption of heart rhythm after a blow to the area directly over the heart at a key time during a heartbeat cycle.
It’s rare, but it mostly happens in boys and young men during sports. The American Heart Association says it’s the leading cause of deaths in youth baseball in the United States, typically two to three per year.
Automated external defibrillators have helped increase the survival rate.
What is heart failure?
Heart failure is a condition that happens when the heart, essentially a pump, cannot effectively push blood out through the arteries and circulatory system to the body’s other organs and tissues.
Congestive heart failure, a worsening of this general condition, means blood flow from the heart through the arteries has slowed while blood returning to the heart through the veins has begun to back up and combined they cause congestion – a blood traffic jam – in the body’s tissues.
The result is oedema, or swelling, usually in the legs and ankles, though oedema can happen anywhere in the body. Heart failure also impairs the kidneys’ ability to dispose of water and sodium, causing even more swelling. When pulmonary oedema happens, fluid collects in the lungs and interferes with breathing.
Conditions that can lead to heart failure include high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and coronary artery disease: when plaque builds up in the walls of arteries causing them to narrow and increasing the difficulty of pumping blood.
Heart failure is a medical condition that needs to be treated to prevent a life-threatening heart attack, but is not as immediately life-threatening as a heart attack or cardiac arrest.
