Question

Ernest Brown is a 55-year-old African American male with diabetes
that is well controlled with medication. He has had occasional, transient
episodes of chest tightness over the last two weeks, and the tightness
returned one day while he was pushing a wheelbarrow full of leaves up a
slight incline in his yard. Since the pain didn’t seem to be going away, he
decided to call his doctor.
 The doctor’s receptionist had Ernest speak with the nurse, who asked
Ernest about the quality and location of the chest tightness. Ernest replied
that the tightness felt like a band across the center of his chest, with pain
radiating through his left arm for a few seconds before subsiding. He added
that this particular episode of chest tightness was triggered by exertion while
doing yard work, and that he had had a couple of recent episodes while
walking briskly uphill.
 The nurse, suspecting that Ernest’s angina might be a sign of an
imminent heart attack, told him to hang up, dial 911, and tell the dispatcher
he thought he might be having a heart attack. Ernest did so, and an
ambulance arrived at his home within 10 minutes. The ambulance whisked
him to the emergency room, where a team of physicians and nurses was
waiting to administer the emergency department protocol for a suspected
myocardial infarction. You are the receiving nurse.

Questions:
1. What are some risk factors for coronary artery disease? Identify the
difference between 'modifiable' and 'non-modifiable'.
2. Identify the coronary arteries; what is each artery responsible for? Your
own terms please - do not cut & paste this!
3. What is the difference between coronary artery disease and peripheral
vascular disease (arterial only)?

Answer 1

The traditional risk factors for coronary artery disease are high LDL cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, family history, diabetes, smoking, being post-menopausal for women and being older than 45 for men, according to Fisher. Obesity may also be a risk factors

Modifiable

Smoking.

Poor nutrition/diet.

Physical inactivity.

Excessive alcohol consumption.

High stress levels.

High blood pressure.

Elevated LDL.

Low HDL.

NON MODIFIABLE

age ethnic background family history of heart disease. The older you are, the more likely you are to develop coronary heart disease or to have a cardiac event (angina, heart attack or stroke).