| Aerobic exercise:
|
Exercise requiring oxygen that especially strengthens the cardiovascular system;
contrasts with anaerobic exercise focusing on muscle strength
|
| Acute myocardial infarction:
|
A “heart attack”. Damages the tissue of the
myocardium by interrupting blood flow to this
area, usually caused by atherosclerosis of the
coronary arteries
|
| Angina pectoris:
|
Sporadic pain in the chest often radiating to
the arms, especially the left arm, sometimes
accompanied by a feeling of suffocation and
impending death; most often caused by
ischaemia of the myocardium and precipitated
by effort or excitement (stable) or while resting
(unstable); often called angina
|
| Antiplatelet drug:
|
A substance that inhibits or destroys blood
platelets, which have a role in blood clotting;
administered for prophylaxis or treatment of
thromboembolic disorders
|
| Aortic stenosis:
|
Narrowing of the orifice of the aortic valve or
of the supravalvular or subvalvular regions
|
| Apnoea:
|
Cessation of breathing or asphyxia
|
| Arrhythmia:
|
Variation from the normal rhythm of the
heartbeat
|
| Arteriosclerosis:
|
A group of diseases characterized by thickening
and loss of elasticity of arterial walls
|
| Atherosclerosis:
|
A form of arteriosclerosis in which deposits of
yellow plaques are deposited within arteries
|
| Body mass index:
|
(Weight in kg)/(height in cm)2; normal values
are between 20 and 25, 25–30 is overweight and
over 30 is obese
|
| Carbon monoxide measurement:
|
Measuring the concentration of carbon
monoxide in expired air; used as feedback to
show smokers attempting to quit the benefits
of quitting.
|
| Capillaries:
|
Minute blood vessels
|
| Capillary response:
|
Rate at which capillaries fill with blood after
induced pressure is released
|
| Cardiovascular:
|
Pertaining to the heart and blood vessels
|
| Coronary artery:
|
An artery that supplies the heart muscle
|
| Congestive heart failure:
|
A clinical syndrome due to heart disease,
characterized by breathlessness and abnormal
sodium and water retention, often resulting in
oedema
|
| Coronary artery bypass grafting:
|
A section of vein or other conduit grafted
between the aorta and a coronary artery distal
to an obstructive lesion in the coronary artery
|
| Coronary heart disease:
|
See ischaemic heart disease
|
| Diuretic:
|
An agent that increases the excretion of urine
|
| Dyspnoea:
|
Difficulty in breathing
|
| Ejection fraction:
|
The percentage of blood driven out into the
vascular system during systole (normal values
55–70%)
|
| Endocarditis:
|
Inflammatory alterations of the endothelial
lining membrane of the cavities of the heart
and the connective tissue bed on which it lies
|
| Fibrillation, atrial:
|
Arrhythmia characterized by minute areas
of the atrial myocardium being in various
uncoordinated stages of depolarization and
repolarization due to multiple re-entry circuits
within the atrial myocardium
|
| Fibrillation, ventricular:
|
Arrhythmia characterized by fibrillary
contractions of the ventricular muscle due to
rapid repetitive excitation of fibres of the
myocardium without coordinated contraction
of the ventricle
|
| Hb A1c:
|
Glycosylated haemoglobin A, a marker for
poorly controlled diabetes
|
| High-density lipoprotein:
|
A class of lipoproteins that promotes transport
of cholesterol from extrahepatic tissue to the
liver for excretion in the bile
|
| Hypercholesterolaemia:
|
Abnormally increased concentration of serum
cholesterol
|
| Hyperglycaemia:
|
Abnormally increased concentration of blood
glucose
|
| Hypertension, arterial:
|
Elevated blood pressure, often defined as
exceeding 140/90 mmHg
|
| Hypertriglyceridaemia:
|
Abnormally increased concentration of serum
triglycerides
|
| Hypoglycaemia:
|
Abnormally diminished concentration of blood
glucose, which may lead to tremulousness,
cold sweat, hypothermia and other symptoms
|
| Impaired fasting glycaemia:
|
Fasting glucose concentration exceeding
normal but below that of diabetes mellitus
(6.1–7.0 mmol/l): risk factor or risk marker
for type 2 diabetes
|
| Impaired glucose tolerance:
|
Elevated plasma glucose two hours after an
oral glucose tolerance test; risk factor or risk
marker for type 2 diabetes and may be more
strongly associated with cardiovascular
outcomes than impaired fasting glycaemia
|
| Implantable cardioverter
defibrillator:
|
An implantable device that detects sustained
ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation and
terminates it by a shock or shocks delivered
directly to the myocardium
|
| Intermittent claudication:
|
Pain in the legs on exertion caused by
occlusive arterial diseases of the limbs.
|
| Ischaemia:
|
Deficiency of blood in a part, usually due to
functional constriction or actual obstruction
of a blood vessel
|
| Ischaemic (coronary) heart disease:
|
Insufficient supply of oxygenated blood to the
heart, usually due to functional constriction
or actual obstruction of a blood vessel such as
that caused by atherosclerosis or by increased
oxygen demand or diminished blood oxygen
transport
|
| Low-density lipoprotein:
|
A class of lipoproteins responsible for
transporting cholesterol to extrahepatic tissues
|
| Macrovascular:
|
Pertaining to large blood vessels
|
| Microalbuminuria:
|
Excretion of albumin in the urine of 30–300 mg
per day, often seen with the elevation in the
glomerular filtration rate of diabetes mellitus
|
| Microvascular:
|
Pertaining to small blood vessels, including
capillaries
|
| Myocarditis:
|
Inflammation of the myocardium
|
| Myocardium:
|
The middle and thickest layer of the heart
wall, composed of cardiac muscle
|
| Nephropathy, diabetic:
|
Disease of the kidneys that commonly
accompanies later stages of diabetes mellitus
|
| Neuropathy, autonomic:
|
A functional disturbance or pathological
change in the autonomic nervous system;
here, it results from diabetes mellitus
|
| Neuropathy, peripheral:
|
A functional disturbance or pathological
change in the peripheral nervous system; here,
it results from diabetes mellitus
|
| New York Heart Association
classes I to IV:
|
Classes of symptoms of congestive heart
failure from I (no symptoms) to IV
(symptoms at rest)
|
| Nicotine replacement therapy:
|
Supplying nicotine delivered through various
means to smokers attempting to quit to reduce
their abstinence symptoms
|
| Nitroglycerin:
|
Used in the prophylaxis and treatment of
angina pectoris, administered sublingually
|
| Oedema:
|
The presence of abnormally large amounts of
fluid in the intercellular tissue spaces of the
body
|
| Oral glucose tolerance test:
|
Administration of a standard amount of
glucose to a fasting person to test glucose
tolerance
|
| Palpitation:
|
A subjective sensation of an unduly rapid or
irregular heartbeat
|
| Paraclinical:
|
Pertaining to abnormalities, such as biochemical
ones or underlying clinical manifestations,
such as chest pain or fever
|
| Patient with a high risk
of heart disease:
|
In the comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation
programme, a person with three or more of
the classical risk factors for ischaemic heart
disease.
|
| Percutaneous coronary
intervention:
|
Minimally invasive mechanical expansion of
a constricted heart vessel with a catheter that
is introduced through a large blood vessel,
usually the groin or underarm
|
| Pericarditis:
|
Inflammation of the fibroserous sac that
surrounds the heart
|
| Prophylaxis:
|
Treatment to prevent disease
|
| Retinopathy:
|
Inflammation of the retina often seen in late
diabetes mellitus
|
| Risk factor:
|
A factor that is known to be associated with an
increased incidence or prevalence of a specific
disease
|
| Saturated fatty acids:
|
Fatty acids without double bonds in their
chains
|
| Statin:
|
A class of pharmaceuticals used to lower
serum cholesterol
|
| Symptom-limited:
|
Limited by the patient’s symptoms: for example,
an exercise test that is stopped if the patient
develops symptoms
|
| Syncope (cardiac):
|
Sudden fainting due to obstructions in cardiac
output or arrhythmia
|
| Tachycardia:
|
Excessive rapidity in the action of the heart
|
| Thrombophlebitis:
|
Inflammation of a vein associated with
thrombus formation
|
| Thrombus:
|
An aggregation of blood factors frequently
causing vascular obstruction at the point of its
formation
|
| Trans-fatty acids:
|
Polyunsaturated fatty acids that have been
hydrogenated (hardened); strongly linked to
heart disease
|
| Triglycerides:
|
Fat synthesized from carbohydrate for storage
in adipose cells
|
| Vascular region:
|
The part of the vascular system, including
capillaries, supplying a tissue
|
