Cardiovascular disease

Question 1

How can cardiovascular disease be treated?

Answer 1

medication
surgery
making lifestyle changes

Question 2

lifestyle changes

Answer 2

• give up smoking
• take more exercise
• eat a healthier diet (lower fat, sugar and salt)
• lose weight

Question 3

advantages and disadvantages of lifestyle changes

Answer 3

• no side effects
• may reduce chances of getting other health conditions
• cheapest

-takes time to work or may not work effectively

Question 4

medication

Answer 4

if lifestyle changes, medication such as betablockers are prescribed to reduce blood pressure

these block adrenaline and noradrenaline from being released, as it causes the heart to beat faster and increases blood pressure

Question 5

advantages and disadvantages of medication

Answer 5

• starts working immediately
• easy to do
• cheaper and less risky than surgery
• need to be taken long term and can have side effects
• may not work well with other medications the person is taking

Question 6

surgery

Answer 6

if an artery becomes narrowed, the drop in blood flow can cause damage to tissue beyond the blockage

a wire frame, called a stent, is inserted into the narrowed part of the artery, increasing its width

Question 7

heart by-pass surgery

Answer 7

a new blood vessel is inserted to by-pass coronary arteries

Question 8

What happens if blood supply to the heart muscle is reduced?

Answer 8

the heart muscle cells can’t get enough oxygen for respiration

the cells die and the person has a heart attack

Question 9

advantages and disadvantages of surgery

Answer 9

-usually a long term solution

• there is a risk the person will not recover after the operation
• expensive
• more difficult to do than giving medication
• risk the person will develop an infection after surgery

Question 10

In a study of patients with narrowed coronary arteries, one group exercised and was given medicine, while a similar group exercised, took medication and had a stent inserted into the narrowed artery.

In the without group, 202 out of 1092 patients died of a heart attack within 5 years

In the with group, 211 out of 1111 died of a heart attack within 5 years

Evaluate whether these results suggest that stent surgery is worth doing [3]

Answer 10

the percentage of deaths was 18.5% in the group without stents, and 19% for the group with stents

this is not a big difference with such a large sample size

this suggests that stent surgery is not worth doing if other treatments are carried out at the same time

Question 11

Surgery is only carried out if the person has serious heart disease and other treatments will not work

Explain why [2]

Answer 11

there is always a risk that the person might not recover

expensive

takes time to recover

risk of infection