Heart attacks affect thousands of people across Canada every year. Commonly known as coronary heart disease (CHD), this aliment causes the narrowing of coronary arteries that supply the heart with blood flow. The build up occurs along the walls of the artery and consists of fatty plaque type material, which can stop blood flow and cause a heart attack. An actual heart attack occurs when a blood clot develops along the narrow area of the artery. The blood clot will reduce flow into the heart a cause a blood shortage resulting in a heart attack (NHLBI 2004).

Many people assume that heart disease is either caused by heredity or improper lifestyle factors, but with Darwinian medicine we are starting to learn about the evolutionary reasons that lead to heart attacks. Some of the main evolutionary factors state that heart attacks are diseases of civilization, which result from an over indulgent lifestyle caused by an increased ability to acquire resources (Neese and Williams 1994). Furthermore, our bodies were originally designed for life in small rural hunting groups and not for modern high-tech congested living conditions. This mismatch between design and environment has created the modern disease, which includes heart attack causing coronary heart disease (Neese and Williams 1994).

Some major symptoms of heart attacks include:

• Crushing/squeezing chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Pain in upper part of the body

For more information on heart attack symptoms follow the Additional Information WWW links(below):

Proximate Causes:

• A heart attack is caused by a blood clot that forms at the narrowing plaque deposited area of the coronary artery. Once the artery is blocked the heart loses blood and begins to die.

Evolutionary Causes:

• The most accurate evolutionary cause is novel environments. The body was designed to live in a rural hunter-gatherer society. Our modern world is fast evolving and the body cannot adapt to our ever changing lifestyles. Our constant exposure to stress and fatty foods has created a mismatch that puts pressure on our cardiovascular system.

 Treatment:

• In order to reduce heart attacks, treatment of coronary heart disease is required. Both medical and none medical treatments are available. Surgical treatments include angioplasty and coronary artery by-pass. A variety of medications exist to help treat the condition, some include: Thrombolytics, Aspirin, Nitrogylcerin and cholesterol lowering medications. Finally, lifestyle changes can greatly reduce the chance of heart attacks. Some changes include: reduction of stress, regular exercise, quitting smoking and a healthy diet. (NHLBI 2004)