Introduction
The cardiovascular system, also known as circulatory system, is a composite system that involves various organs and tissues all aimed at circulating blood throughout the body. The organs and tissues of this system consist of a pump, and interlinking venous network. These parts are joined together throughout the body to form an enclosed system in which the blood flows.
Blood is a tissue with cellular and liquid components that together carry gases, nutrients, cellular products and waste products from various organs and deliver them to their destinations. Oxygen is carried from the lungs to various organs by red cells in the blood. After use, carbon dioxide is picked from the organs and delivered to the lungs and exhaled. The cellular products such as hormones and immune system components are also carried from their organ of synthesis to the target organ to serve its purpose. Nutrients which include glucose, amino acids, vitamins and minerals are also transported from the digestive tract to the organs for metabolism. The byproducts of metabolism are in turn sent to organs such as liver and kidneys to be cleared out of the body.
Each of the components of the cardiovascular system plays important physiological role to maintain timely and adequate movement of substances from one organ to another. The heart pumps blood at a preset rate and exacts an absolute pressure. At rest, 5 liters per minute of oxygenated blood pass through the heart and is pumped out through large muscular “pipes” known as arteries and then to smaller branches known as arterioles. These are linked to venules by capillaries in the organs. The capillaries are networks of single cell walled pipes where the carried components diffuse into the organs and the waste products into the blood flow. Venules aggregate to form veins that lead blood back to the heart. When any of these organs fails to work well due to obstruction or intrinsic causes, cardiovascular disorders arise. Various factors cause give rise to these disorders which include genetics, age and behavior among others (Mendis, Puska & Norrving, 2011, p 123).
How behavior impact on pathophysiology of cardiovascular diseases
Smoking behavior: Cigarette smoking promotes atherosclerosis through oxidation of low density lipoproteins. In addition, it increases inflammation, blood clotting factors, carbon monoxide and blood pressure. This, therefore, initiates the mechanism for initiating cardiovascular dysfunction (American Heart Foundation, 2012).
Diet: Consumption of foods rich in low density lipoproteins cause deposits to the circulation leading to increased blood pressure. Dietary salt also increases blood pressure. Overuse of alcohol increase blood pressure which may damage the heart as well as the veins
Physical Inactivity: lack of physical activities causes excessive fat deposition in various organs and thus block blood blow to these organs. A consequential condition, known as obesity, associated with high low density lipoproteins, may affect the heart through influence on dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, diabetes, inflammatory markers, hypoventilation, and a prothrombotic state.
Congestive heart failure (CHF)
This is a condition where the heart’s ability to pump blood is lessened leading to decreased cardiac output. The ventricles are impaired to either reduce the heart muscle strength to pump blood out of the ventricles, or there is stiffness of the ventricle muscles and, therefore, less blood enters the ventricles and subsequent low cardiac output. There is consequently congestion of blood in the veins in the lungs that further weaken the heart (Huether & McCance, 2012, p 648).
The cause of congestive heart failure is mainly weakening of the heart muscles. In most of the cases, the left ventricle is the one that is affected. There are a number of causes of CHF that affect the left ventricle. They include atherosclerotic heart disease where the coronary arteries narrow reducing oxygen supply in the heart hence heart attack. The cardiac valves can also be faulty and cause backflow of blood. Cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, diabetes and hypertension also affect the function of the left ventricle. The right ventricle disorder may be due to the heart pumping blood against pulmonary pressure built in by the lungs (Thrainsdottir & Rydén, 2010, pp 684-697).
Mechanisms of hypertension and dyslipidemia to cause congestive heart failure
Increased blood pressure may lead to substantial blood current and thus damaging the heart muscles (McPhee & Hammer, 2012, p301). When there is increased blood flow, the compensatory mechanism of the heart is increase in heart size and consequently the myocardium enlarges leading to diastolic dysfunction. This occurs in 75 percent of patients diagnosed with congestive heart failure (Choueiri et al., 2011. p 632).
Patients with dyslipidemia have unregulated lipid in the blood. This blood lipid in most cases will be stored at various parts of the cardiovascular system. When it is deposited on the veins and arteries to form plaques, it increases the blood pressure which is a major recipe of CHF. If the plaques form in the coronary arteries, it will lead to heart attack and thus heart failure (Kohashi et al., 2014).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the cardiovascular system is a structure that supplies blood to the entire body. This blood does not only carry all the vital nutrients and oxygen into the body cells but also carries waste and carbon dioxide out of the cells. Any alteration in the system organs leads to improper working of the system. Several disorders have been highlighted which include congestive heart failure disease. Heart failure can be caused by hypertension that injures the heart by stiffening its muscles. Dyslipidemia also leads to deposition of fats in the blood vessels thus increased blood pressure. In this disease, heart fails to pump blood and thus low cardiac output. This causes congestion of blood in the veins and arteries. Behavior is one of the greatest contributors of this disorder.
Reference
American heart foundation. (2012.).About Heart Failure. Web.
Choueiri, T. K., Mayer, E. L., Je, Y., Rosenberg, J. E., Nguyen, P. L., Azzi, G. R. & Schutz, F. A. (2011). Congestive heart failure risk in patients with breast cancer treated with bevacizumab. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 29(6),p 632.
Huether, S. E., & McCance, K. L. (2012). Understanding pathophysiology (Laureate custom ed.). St. Louis, MO: Mosby. p 648
Kohashi, K., Nakagomi, A., Saiki, Y., Morisawa, T., Kosugi, M., Kusama, Y. & Shimizu, W. (2014). Effects of Eicosapentaenoic Acid on the Levels of Inflammatory Markers, Cardiac Function and Long-Term Prognosis in Chronic Heart Failure Patients with Dyslipidemia. Journal of atherosclerosis and thrombosis.
McPhee, S. J., & Hammer, G. D. (2012). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Medical, p 301
Mendis, S., Puska, P., & Norrving, B. (2011). Global atlas on cardiovascular disease prevention and control. World Health Organization, p 123.
Thrainsdottir, I. S., & Rydén, L. (2010). Congestive Heart Failure. Textbook of Diabetes, Fourth Edition, pp 684-697.