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The chances of having a cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure or heart failure, are higher with aging, being more common after the age of 60. This happens not only due to the natural aging of the body, which leads to decreased strength of the heart muscle and increased resistance in the blood vessels, but also due to the presence of other problems such as diabetes or high cholesterol.
Therefore, it is advisable to go to the cardiologist annually, and if necessary, to have heart exams, from the age of 45, in order to detect early changes that can be treated before a more serious problem develops.
1. High blood pressure
High blood pressure is the most common cardiovascular disease in the elderly, being diagnosed when blood pressure is above 140 x 90 mmHg in 3 consecutive evaluations. Understand how you can tell if you have high blood pressure.
This problem in most cases is caused by the exaggerated intake of s alt in the diet associated with a sedentary lifestyle and family history. In addition, people with a well-balanced diet can develop the disease due to the aging of the vessels, which increase pressure on the heart and make it difficult for the heart to contract.
Although it rarely causes symptoms, high blood pressure needs to be controlled as it can cause the development of other more serious problems such as heart failure, aortic aneurysm, aortic dissection, strokes, for example.
2. Heart failure
The development of heart failure is often related to the presence of uncontrolled high blood pressure or other untreated heart diseases, which weaken the heart muscle and make it difficult for the heart to work, causing difficulty in pumping blood.
This heart disease usually causes symptoms such as progressive tiredness, swelling of the legs and feet, feeling short of breath when lying down and dry cough that often makes the individual wake up at night. Although there is no cure, heart failure must be treated to relieve symptoms and improve quality of life. See how heart failure is treated.
3. Ischemic heart disease
Ischemic heart disease occurs when the arteries that supply blood to the heart become clogged and fail to supply enough oxygen to the heart muscle. In this way, the heart walls may have their contraction totally or partially reduced, which leads to difficulty in heart pumping.
Generally, heart disease is more common when you have high cholesterol, but people with diabetes or hypothyroidism are also more likely to have the disease that causes symptoms such as constant chest pain, palpitations and excessive tiredness after walking or climbing stairs.
This disease should always be treated by a cardiologist, avoiding the development of more serious complications, such as decompensated heart failure, arrhythmias or even cardiac arrest.
4. Valvulopathy
With advancing age, men over 65 years of age and women over 75 years of age have an easier time accumulating calcium in the valves of the heart that are responsible for controlling the passage of blood within it and to the body vessels. When this happens, the valves become thicker and harden, opening with greater difficulty and making it difficult for blood to pass.
In these cases, symptoms may take a while to appear. With the difficulty in the passage of blood, it accumulates, leading to dilation of the walls of the heart, and consequent loss of strength of the heart muscle, which ends up resulting in heart failure.
Thus, people over 60, even if they do not have heart problems or symptoms, should make regular consultations with the cardiologist to assess the functioning of the heart, in order to detect silent problems or problems that are not yet very advanced.
5. Arrhythmia
Arrhythmia can appear at any age, however, it is more common in the elderly due to the reduction of specific cells and the degeneration of the cells that conduct the nerve impulses that make the heart contract. In this way, the heart may start to contract irregularly or beat less frequently, for example.
Usually, the arrhythmia does not cause symptoms and can only be identified after an electrocardiogram exam, for example. However, in the most serious cases, symptoms such as constant tiredness, a feeling of a lump in the throat or chest pain, for example, may arise. In these cases, treatment is recommended to relieve symptoms.
Understand how cardiac arrhythmias are treated.
In our podcast, Dr. Ricardo Alckmin, president of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology, clarifies the main doubts about cardiac arrhythmia:
