Transcript CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM and the effects of AGING

Right side of the heart pumps blood to the
lungs to receive oxygen and get rid of carbon
dioxide, while the left side pumps oxygenrich blood to the body.
•Your heart will beat 2.6 billion
times in your lifetime
•The heart pumps about five
quarts of blood a minute
(2,000) gallons of throughout
your body
•Healthy heart is strong
enough to drive a single drop
of blood throughout your
entire body in 24 seconds
 Cardiovascular system includes:
 The HEART
 Network of BLOOD VESSELS- through which blood is transported
 Aging does not significantly limit the normal work capacity of
the heart
 Changes that cause clinical decline in the cardiovascular
function are the result of disease
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Risk of heart disease increases 3-fold with each advancing decade
Age is considered a risk factor for heart disease after age 55 for
women and 45 for men.
 Women younger than 55 have not gone through menopause and
still have high level of estrogen in their blood.
 On average, women develop heart disease about 10 to15 years
later than men
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More than 70 million Americans have cardiovascular disease
 On average, women have their first heart attack at age 70, while men have
their first attack at age 66.
 More than 83% of people who die from heart disease are older than 65
years.
 Because women usually develop heart disease at an older age, women are
more likely than men to die within a few weeks of having a heart attack.
 Heart muscle becomes slightly stiffer
 Increases in size
 Despite the increase in size, the amount of blood the chamber
can hold may decrease due to the heart wall thickening
 Maximum heart rate decreases with age, while
resting heart rate and the cardiac output do not
change.
 Among older adults it takes longer for the heart rate
and blood pressure to return to normal resting levels
following stress
Heart rate decreases with age due to loss in the
number of pacemaker cells
 Dysrhythmias are common due to fibrous tissues
and fat deposits
 Blood flow to the kidneys may decrease by 50%
 Blood flow to the brain may decrease by 15-20%
 Heart murmurs are common with age because
heart valves become less flexible and calcium
deposits build up
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Blood vessels, include the aorta and other arteries
that become stiffer and are less responsive to
hormones that relax the blood vessel walls
 Stiffening of blood vessels contributes to increase in
systolic blood pressure with aging
 In Western countries systolic blood pressure tend to
increase throughout a persons life span, while
diastolic pressure rises until age 60 then level off.
 An elevated blood pressure increases risk for stroke,
heart attack and kidney failure
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Body Temperature
 With age, it is harder for the body to control its temperature
 Aging decreases your ability to sweat
 At risk for hyperthermia or heat stroke or hypothermia
 Fever is an important sign of illness in older persons
 Can be an only symptom for several days as a sign of an infection
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Heart rate
 Pulse rate is about the same, except on exertion. With
exercising, it may take long for your pulse to increase and longer
to decrease afterwards.
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Blood Pressure
 With age, older people may become dizzy when standing up
quickly – called Orthostatic Hypotension
 Risk of hypertension increases with age
 Heart related problems in older adults include:
 Bradycardia – very slow pulse
 Tachycardia – very fast pulse
 Arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation
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An older heart may not be able to pump blood
as well when you make it work harder
 Certain things that make your heart work harder…
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Medications
Emotional stress
Physical exertion
Illness
Infections
Injuries
 Blood pressure is the force of your blood pushing against the
walls of your arteries.
 With every heart beat, blood is pumped out into the arteries
 Systolic Blood Pressure
 Your pressure is highest when your heart beats, pumping the blood
 Diastolic Blood Pressure
 When your heart is at rest, between beats
your blood pressure falls
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Normal Blood Pressure
 120/80 or lower
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High Blood Pressure
 140/90 or higher
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Between 120-139 for the top number, or between 80-89
for the bottom number is called pre-hypertension
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High blood pressure usually has no symptoms, but can
cause serious problems such as stroke, heart failure,
heart attack and kidney failure
 Stroke is a Medical
Emergency.
 Strokes happen when blood flow to your brain STOPS!
 Within minutes, brain cells begin to die
 Ischemic stroke-caused by blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood
vessel in the brain
 Hemorrhagic stroke-caused by blood vessel that breaks and
bleeds into the brain
 TIA’s (transient ischemic attacks) – blood supply to the brain in
briefly interrupted
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Face Drooping
 does one side of face droop or is it numb? Ask a person to smile
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Arm Weakness
 is one arm weak or numb? Ask the person to raise both arms
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Speech difficulty
 is speech slurred, are they unable to speak or hard time
understanding? Ask the person to repeat a simple sentence (the
sky is blue)
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Time to call 911
 Call 9-1-1 if anyone is showing any of these symptoms and get
them to a hospital immediately.
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Each year over 1 million people in the U.s. have a
heart attack. About half of them…die!
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What is HEART ATTACK?
 It is when a clot in the coronary artery blocks the supply
of blood and oxygen to the heart
 It can lead to irregular heartbeat –arrhythmia- that causes a
severe decrease in the pumping function of the heart.
 A blockage that is not treated within a few hours causes the
affected heart muscle to die
Smoking
High Blood Pressure
High cholesterol
Diabetes
Obesity
Physical inactivity
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A heart attack strikes someone about every 34
seconds
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Heart attack signs in women:
 Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in
center of your chest
 Pain in one or both arms, back, neck, jaw or stomach
 Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort
 Cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness
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Most of the normal changes of aging have no impact on
normal functioning, although they become apparent
when the body is placed under stress…
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Acute illness
Physical exertion
Infections
Injuries
Much of the illness and disability associated with aging
is related to modifiable lifestyle factors that are present
in middle age
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Managing cholesterol
Treating high blood pressure
Not smoking
Weight management
www.agework.com
www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/heartdisease
www.hearthealthywomen.org
www.heart.org
www.strokeassociation.org