Learn About Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis, sometimes called "hardening of the arteries," occurs when fat, cholesterol, and other substances build up in the walls of arteries. These deposits are called plaques. Over time, these plaques can narrow or completely block the arteries and cause problems throughout the body.
Atherosclerosis is a common disorder.
Hardening of the arteries; Arteriosclerosis; Plaque buildup - arteries; Hyperlipidemia - atherosclerosis; Cholesterol - atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis often occurs with aging. As you grow older, plaque buildup narrows your arteries and makes them stiffer. These changes make it harder for blood to flow through them.
Clots may form in these narrowed arteries and block blood flow. Pieces of plaque can also break off and move to smaller blood vessels, blocking them.
These blockages starve tissues of blood and oxygen. This can result in damage or tissue death. It is a common cause of heart attack and stroke.
High blood cholesterol levels can cause hardening of the arteries at a younger age.
For many people, high cholesterol levels are due to a diet that is too high in saturated fats and trans fats.
Other factors that can contribute to hardening of the arteries include:
- Diabetes
- Family history of hardening of the arteries
- High blood pressure
- Lack of exercise
- Being overweight or obese
- Smoking
Atherosclerosis does not cause symptoms until blood flow to part of the body becomes slowed or blocked.
If the arteries supplying the heart become narrow, blood flow can slow down or stop. This can cause chest pain (stable angina), shortness of breath, and other symptoms.
Narrowed or blocked arteries may also cause problems in the intestines, kidneys, legs, and brain.
Lifestyle changes will reduce your risk for atherosclerosis. Things you can do include:
- Quit smoking: This is the single most important change you can make to reduce your risk for heart disease and stroke.
- Avoid fatty foods: Eat well-balanced meals that are low in fat and cholesterol. Include several daily servings of fruits and vegetables. Adding fish to your diet at least twice a week may be helpful. However, do not eat fried fish.
- Limit how much alcohol you drink: Recommended limits are one drink a day for women, two a day for men.
- Get regular physical activity: Exercise with moderate intensity (such as brisk walking) 5 days a week for 30 minutes a day if you are at a healthy weight. For weight loss, exercise for 60 to 90 minutes a day. Talk to your provider before starting a new exercise plan, especially if you have been diagnosed with heart disease or you have ever had a heart attack.
If your blood pressure is high, it is important for you to lower it and keep it under control.
The goal of treatment is to reduce your blood pressure so that you have a lower risk of health problems caused by high blood pressure. You and your provider should set a blood pressure goal for you.
- Do not stop or change high blood pressure medicines without talking to your provider.
Your provider may want you to take medicine for abnormal cholesterol levels or for high blood pressure if lifestyle changes do not get you to your goals for these. This will depend on:
- Your age
- The medicines you take
- Your risk of side effects from possible medicines
- Whether you have heart disease or other blood flow problems
- Whether you smoke or are overweight
- Whether you have diabetes or other heart disease risk factors
- Whether you have any other medical problems, such as kidney disease
Your provider may suggest taking aspirin or another medicine to help prevent blood clots from forming in your arteries. These medicines are called antiplatelet drugs. DO NOT take aspirin without first talking to your provider.
Losing weight if you are overweight and reducing blood sugar if you have diabetes or pre-diabetes can help reduce the risk of developing atherosclerosis.
Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center - Green Spring Station, Lutherville
Dr. Michael J. Blaha MD MPH is Professor of Cardiology and Epidemiology and presently serves as the Director of Clinical Research for the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease, Director of the Cardiometabolic Clinic, and Program Director for the Preventive Cardiology Fellowship. His clinical interests include primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, with emphasis on early intervention in patients with advanced subclinical atherosclerosis detected with cardiac computed tomography. Dr. Blaha represents the 4th generation of physicians in his family. After earning a BS in pre-medical studies and classical civilization at the University of Notre Dame in 2001, Dr. Blaha went to Vanderbilt University where in 2006 he received his MD as well as an MPH. in clinical epidemiology and biostatistics. Dr. Blaha then completed his Internal Medicine residency in the Osler Medical Housestaff Training Program at Johns Hopkins in 2009 before completing a fellowship in Cardiology at Johns Hopkins in 2012. In 2018, Dr. Blaha received the Dr. Fred Brancati award at Johns Hopkins for excellence in mentoring. He has mentored over 30 trainees, many of which have gone on to hold prominent academic appointments. In 2021, Dr. Blaha was named to the Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher List, representing the top 1% of world’s researchers, and was first named to the Baltimore Magazine Best Doctors List. In 2022, he received the Arthur S. Agatston Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Award. Clinically, he practices as a preventive cardiologist specializing in cardiometabolic disease and in the interpretation of cardiac CT. His clinic specializes in patients with cardiometabolic disease and advanced subclinical atherosclerosis, and the focused use of an array of lifestyle and pharmacotherapies to mitigate that risk. Dr. Blaha is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Atherosclerosis. His top areas of expertise are Atherosclerosis, Coronary Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Metabolic Syndrome, and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI).
Houston Methodist Debakey Cardiology Associates
Khurram Nasir is a Cardiologist in Houston, Texas. Dr. Nasir is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Atherosclerosis. His top areas of expertise are Atherosclerosis, Coronary Heart Disease, High Cholesterol, Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG), and Heart Bypass Surgery.
Johns Hopkins Health Care & Surgery Center - Green Spring Station, Lutherville
Dr. Wendy Post is professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and holds a joint appointment as professor of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is the Lou and Nancy Grasmick Professor of Cardiology. Dr. Post is a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and the Echocardiography Laboratory and is associate faculty at the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University. She is Director of Cardiovascular Research for the Division of Cardiology and Director of Research for the Hopkins Cardiovascular Fellowship Training Program. Dr. Post received her undergraduate degree in biology from Harvard University. She earned her medical degree from Columbia College of Surgeons and Physicians, Columbia University. After completing her internship and residency at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Hospital, Dr. Post received her master’s degree in epidemiology from the Harvard School of Public Health. She was a research fellow at the Framingham Heart Study, in Framingham, Mass., and completed a fellowship in cardiology at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. Post joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1997. Dr. Post’s research interests include prediction and prevention of coronary heart disease and sudden cardiac death, noninvasive imaging of subclinical atherosclerosis, genetics of cardiovascular disease, sex and racial/ethnic differences in cardiovascular disease, and cardiovascular disease in HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. She is the chair of the steering committee, and the principal investigator for the Hopkins field center for the NIH-funded Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Dr. Post also leads Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) Cardiovascular Disease sub-studies. She has been the PI for three R01 grants from NHLBI investigating cardiovascular disease in HIV, and is dual PI on the cardiology NHLBI training grant, which has been continuously funded for over 45 years. Dr. Post is a manuscript reviewer for multiple publications and is currently associate editor of Circulation. She has over 350 peer-reviewed research publications. Dr. Post was elected as a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2015. She mentors multiple medical students, medical house staff, fellows and junior faculty. She was a member of the Hopkins Professorial Promotions Committee and a former Johns Hopkins University Provost Fellow. She was co-chair of the Johns Hopkins University Committee on the Biomedical Scientific Workforce. Dr. Post is rated as an Elite provider by MediFind in the treatment of Atherosclerosis. Her top areas of expertise are Atherosclerosis, Coronary Heart Disease, Carotid Artery Disease, Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), and Aortic Valve Replacement.
Atherosclerosis cannot be reversed once it has occurred. However, lifestyle changes and treating high cholesterol levels can prevent or slow the process from becoming worse. This can help reduce the chances of having a heart attack and stroke as a result of atherosclerosis.
In some cases, the plaque is part of a process that causes a weakening of the wall of an artery. This can lead to a bulge in an artery called an aneurysm. Aneurysms can break open (rupture). This causes bleeding that can be life threatening.
Summary: 1\) The purpose of this study is to assess segmental pulse arrival time (PAT) as an alternative biomarker to detect lower-extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD), and to investigate the impacts of local skin heating and foot elevation. The secondary purpose will be to investigate the impacts of age on segmental PAT. The subject population will include any adults 19 years of age or older with or ...
Summary: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is characterized by partial (hypopnea) or complete (apnea) obstruction of the upper airways, leading to intermittent hypoxemia and sleep fragmentation. Peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) is a chronic condition defined by the narrowing or occlusion of arteries in the lower limbs, often resulting in ischemia of downstream tissues. This disease is a c...
Published Date: February 27, 2024
Published By: Thomas S. Metkus, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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Libby P. The vascular biology of atherosclerosis. In: Libby P, Bonow RO, Mann DL, Tomaselli GF, Bhatt DL, Solomon SD, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine. 12th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022: chap 24.
Marks AR. Cardiac and circulatory function. In: Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 41.
US Preventive Services Task Force website. Final recommendation statement: statin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in adults: preventive medication. Updated August 23, 2022. Accessed March 1, 2024. www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/document/RecommendationStatementFinal/statin-use-in-adults-preventive-medication.
Whelton PK, Carey RM, Aronow WS, et al. 2017 ACC/AHA/AAPA/ABC/ACPM/AGS/APhA/ASH/ASPC/NMA/PCNA guideline for the prevention, detection, evaluation, and management of high blood pressure in adults: a report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2018;71(19):2199-2269. PMID: 2914653 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29146533/.