While heart health holds a certain significance for those with heart conditions and heart disease, it holds implications for everyone; heart disease is the No. 1 killer of men and women in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In order to combat heart disease on a global scale, the World Heart Federation has declared the last Sunday in September as World Heart Day with the theme of “Know Your Risk.” The purpose is to get people to examine their individual risk for heart disease, according to the federation’s Web site.

“The World Heart Federation is a nongovernmental organization committed to helping the global population achieve a longer and better life through prevention and control of heart disease and stroke, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries,” said Helen Alderson, chief operating officer of the World Heart Federation, in an e-mail.

What’s your risk?

Young people tend to have a “live forever” view of life, said Dr. George Abela, the director of cardiology in the Department of Medicine.

“When you realize that’s not true, it can be a downer,” he said. “We don’t want to make people feel bad; we just want them to grasp the facts.”

Lifelong heart health begins in the younger years of life, Abela said.

There are five major factors to look at when assessing the risk for developing heart disease: family history, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, Abela said.

He said obesity, stress and lack of exercise also contribute to heart disease.

Abela suggests looking into the family background early in life to see if any close relatives like parents or siblings had heart problems at an early age, as well as checking cholesterol levels, eating properly, exercising and not smoking.

Smoking damages the arteries, raises blood pressure and heart rates, and increases deposits in the vessels, according the to World Heart Federation.

Many of the problems that Abela sees in college students are related to caffeine and alcohol, lack of sleep — especially the combination of energy drinks and alcohol.

“They exaggerate an underlaying condition and occasionally they will take someone who is normal and make them feel uncomfortable,” Abela said.

Drug use, especially cocaine, also can damage the heart, Abela said.

“Young people also need to be aware that the lifestyle choices they make now, like smoking, unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, can have a long-term adverse effect on their heart health,” Alderson said.

Journalism senior Celeste Maturen said she is taking preventative measures now to avoid heart problems later.

“I think college students think they can binge drink and eat poorly while in college and worry about heart health later in life,” Maturen said. “It’s a lifestyle choice.”

The most common heart problems in college-age students are related to the rhythm of the heart like an accelerated heartbeat or skipping, Abela said.

Even taking precautions can’t guarantee protection from all heart problems. Some are congenital, which refers to an anatomical defect in the heart that is present at birth. Most of these are caught in early childhood, Abela said.

Although doctors told her she could live a “normal” life, Kang still watches her blood pressure and tries to eat healthy and exercise.

“I walk all of the time; I rarely take the bus,” Kang said.

Silent killer

Despite being the leading killer of people in the U.S., there has been a gradual reduction in heart disease in the last 10 to 15 years due to awareness, Abela said.

According to the CDC, heart disease killed nearly 700,000 people in 2002, which accounted for 29 percent of all deaths in the U.S.

“It often captures people in the prime of their lives, which is very costly to society; in their 50s or 60s, the peak of productivity,” Abela said.

Heart disease was estimated to cost more than $258 billion in 2006, taking into account the cost of medicine, care and loss of productivity, according to the CDC.

Most people know the common symptoms of a heart attack: chest pressure, pain that radiates to the arms, neck and back, a burning pain in the chest. But only about half of heart attack patients have these symptoms. Others may experience symptoms like nausea, sudden sweats or stomach pain. Some have no symptoms, a silent heart attack, Abela said.

Other symptoms indicative of a heart problem include fainting and shortness of breath, Abela said.

“Passing out deserves fairly quick attention,” Abela said.

“Most of the time it may be fairly benign but sometimes it’s not and requires intervention and treatment.”

It is important to get to a doctor within two to three hours of a heart attack to avoid permanent damage, Abela said.

On the cutting edge

Imagine spikes tearing through the walls of your arteries. It’s not a pleasant image, but research by an MSU team including Abela shows just that. The research showed that when cholesterol inside the walls of arteries crystallizes, it can expand up to 45 percent, and the more there is, the faster it expands. This process has been shown in test tubes and the end result has been seen in the walls of the damaged arteries, Abela said.

“The crystals have very sharp and nasty edges, the membranes can be easily torn,” Abela said.

The research also showed that a decrease in temperature of only one or two degrees can trigger a rapid crystallization. So far this has only been shown in a test tube, Abela said.

This tearing of the artery wall can lead to a heart attack, which is the death of heart muscle from lack of oxygen. A loss of the heart’s blood supply or blood lacking oxygen can cause this, Abela said.

The majority of heart attacks are caused when the growth of cholesterol deposits within the wall of the artery damage the arterial wall. This leads to the formation of a clot which blocks blood flow and can lead to a heart attack, Abela said.

Other research at MSU focuses on high blood pressure and its consequences. Dr. Donna Wang, a professor in the Department of Medicine, is searching for the molecular mechanism that leads to high blood pressure.

“The goal is to develop a new or novel therapy for the treatment of these devastating diseases,” Wang said.

What is ‘normal’?

After her open-heart surgery, when her aortic valve was replaced with her pulmonary valve, and her pulmonary valve with a synthetic one, doctors told Kang that she could live a normal life. Her surgery had taken place in November 2006, so she missed the first semester of her senior year of high school, but she caught up with her work and came to MSU the following fall.

Still, she is careful and tries to avoid aggressive sports and works on managing stress but says she doesn’t have any limitations or problems.

“Before it was a shock, you hear about it but it never actually happens to you,” Kang said.

“There was a small period of time where I was depressed and thought my life is over, but it’s not, it’s a new beginning. I was limited before, but after surgery it’s a whole new viewpoint.”