Introduction
By: Jonathan Kahan MD
What is cardiovascular disease?
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) encompasses a range of conditions affecting the heart and blood vessels, including coronary artery disease, stroke, hypertension (high blood pressure), congestive heart failure, atherosclerosis, high cholesterol, and peripheral arterial disease 1.
Why do we care about cardiovascular disease (CVD)?
Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer in the world by far. Annually, approximately 18 million people die of cardiovascular disease. If you added up the next 10 leading causes including all cancers (12 million annual deaths) it would not equal CVD death for that year. There are 60% more cardiovascular deaths today than there were in 1990 per capita. One person in the US dies every 34 seconds from cardiovascular disease. At the height of the COVID 19 pandemic, 250% more people died of CVD then from COVID. Thirty five percent of all acute myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) occur at the age of 30-55 years old. Forty eight percent of women > 20 years old have some evidence of CVD. Only 6.8% of US adults were optimal for cardiometabolic health in 2022, and this number is worsening 2-6.
What percentage of cardiovascular disease is preventable?
Eighty Percent (80%)!
How can I maximize my cardiovascular health?
By following the advice in this book and working with your physician. It breaks down into a discussion of two broad categories:
Prevention:
Smoking
High Blood Pressure
Cholesterol
Health/Resilience:
Obesity and Diet
Exercise
Sleep
Social/Miscellaneous
What does primary prevention mean? What does health mean? Why are we escaping history?
Primary prevention: to prevent a disease before it occurs,
specifically in this case cardiovascular diseases 7.
Health: The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “Health” as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity 8. As the WHO states, it is not just about absence of disease, but an all-encompassing wellbeing. The tools in this book will help make you healthy.
Escaping History: In this book, you will be given the skills to escape your personal and your family’s cardiovascular history. Early family history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is defined as a diagnosis of CVD in an immediate male relative less than 55 years old or a female immediate relative less than 65 years old (parents or siblings). Individuals with an early family history of cardiovascular disease are at 70% increased risk of developing heart disease themselves! We will teach you how to escape this fate. Furthermore, your personal history of obesity, metabolic dysfunction, smoking, poor diet, sleep, mood and physical condition will be transformed as well. You are not who you were yesterday, and it is time to become the best version of you possible!
How can I effectively use this manual?
By reading the sections that are relevant to you, you can efficiently and effectively improve your cardiovascular fitness. This manual is meant to be a “choose your own adventure”, and each section is meant to be stand alone. For example, if you do not smoke then you can skip that section. However, there is interplay between cardiovascular conditions such as high blood pressure and obesity, so reading those interconnected sections will be relevant even if you are only diagnosed with one condition.