heart disease

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Also known as: cardiac disease

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: Dean Ornish; Larry King

Related Topics:: congenital heart disease; heart attack; heart failure; cor pulmonale; coronary heart disease

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Health benefits of eating chocolate — Health benefits of eating chocolate
Learn how eating chocolate can help stave off health problems, including heart disease and strokes.
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heart disease, any disorder of the heart. Examples include coronary heart disease, congenital heart disease, and pulmonary heart disease, as well as rheumatic heart disease (see rheumatic fever), hypertension, inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) or of its inner or outer membrane (endocarditis, pericarditis), and heart valve disease. Abnormalities of the heart’s natural pacemaker or of the nerves that conduct its impulses cause arrhythmias. Some connective tissue diseases (notably systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and scleroderma) can affect the heart. Heart failure may result from many of these disorders.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Mic Anderson.