How much do you know about Heart Disease? Quiz

By: J.P. Naomi
Image: Shutterstock

About This Quiz

American's learn about heart disease being the number one killer from an early age but how much do you really know? Test your medical knowledge with this Heart Disease Quiz.

The heart is composed of _______ chambers.

The upper chambers receive incoming blood and the lower chambers are more muscular, and pump blood out of your heart.

What is the name given to the upper two chambers of the heart?

The two upper cavities of the heart are called atria (plural for atrium). Deoxygenated blood is received into the right atrium, and the left atrium receives oxygenated blood..

What is the name given to the lower two chambers of the heart?

Blood from the right atrium enters the right ventricle and pumps it into the lungs, and blood from the left atrium enters the left ventricle where it gets pumped into the circulatory system.

What is the largest blood vessel in your body?

The aorta carries oxygenated blood from the heart to all the tissues in the body.

What is the smallest blood vessel in your body?

The average adult body has about 10 billion capillaries, which connect arteries and veins.

How much blood is contained in an average adult body (with a weight of 150 to 180 pounds)?

It is estimated that the volume of blood in a human body is roughly 7 percent of body weight.

In the United States, what is the number one cause of death for both men and women?

Heart disease is a term that encompasses all types of heart-related infections, irregularities, and birth defects including heart failure, coronary artery disease, arrhythmias, and angina .

According to the CDC, how many deaths are attributed to heart disease per year in the United States?

Each year, 1 in every 4 deaths in the United States is due to heart disease.

What is NOT a risk factor for developing heart disease?

High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes can also increase your risk for developing heart disease.

Which of the following refers to damage or disease in the heart's major blood vessels?

The coronary artery is important for supplying the heart with blood. If it is blocked or narrowed, coronary artery disease can occur. This is the most common cause of heart disease.

What is it called when your arteries harden and get narrow?

Damage to the lining of the blood vessel by high blood pressure, smoking, or high cholesterol can lead to the formation of plaques in your arteries that can clog the way for blood.

What is inside an atherosclerotic plaque?

Plaques start as a fatty streak on the inside of the blood vessel, and can progress to a calcified plaque.

What is a condition in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high?

Also called hypertension, high blood pressure is defined as a blood pressure above 140/90. A healthy blood pressure is generally considered at or below 120/80.

What is improper beating of the heart, whether irregular, too fast, or too slow?

Arrhythmia refers to any change in the electrical impulses of the heart that deviate from the normal sequence. This can lead to the inability of the heart to pump blood efficiently.

What is a circulatory condition in which narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to the limbs?

Peripheral artery disease most commonly occurs in the legs.

What is damage to the brain from interruption of its blood supply?

A stroke is a kind of "brain attack" - the cells of the brain can die because if blood flow is cut off, then the cells do not receive oxygen and cannot survive.

Cerebral infarction is one way to describe:

A type of ischemic stroke resulting from a blockage in the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain is called a cerebral infarction.

How does one describe a blue skin color caused by lack of oxygen?

The word "cyan" comes from the Greek word for blue: kyanós.

What is a chronic condition in which the heart doesn't pump blood as well as it should.

There are two types of heart failure, diastolic and systolic.

Diastolic congestive heart failure occurs when the heart:

In diastolic heart failure, the muscle of the left ventricle has become stiff and cannot relax, resulting in an inability to fill with blood properly.

Systolic congestive heart failure occurs when the heart:

In systolic heart failure, the left ventricle cannot contract normally, so enough blood cannot get pushed into circulation and maintain a healthy body.

What is angina?

Angina is chest pain caused by a lack of oxygen-rich blood flow to the heart. It can feel like pressure in your chest or indigestion.

Heart attack is the more common way to describe:

The myocardium is the muscular tissue of the heart, and an infarction is the obstruction of the blood supply.

What is a blood-filled bulge in the wall of a blood vessel that resembles a balloon?

Aneurysms can occur in any blood vessel, and carry a risk of life-threatening rupture.

What occurs when the blood supply to the heart stops and part of the heart muscle dies?

Studies have shown that people who live alone are twice as likely to have a heart attack compared to people who live with others.

What is sudden, unexpected loss of heart function, breathing, and consciousness.

Cardiac arrest occurs when the heart suddenly stops pumping as a result of an electrical problem in the heart. This is different from a myocardial infarction (heart attack).

What is an abnormality in the heart that develops before birth?

Congenital means present from birth, and can be inherited or acquired.

What medication dilates the arteries to the heart to increase blood flow to the heart?

Nitrates, commonly taken in the form of nitroglycerin, are used to relieve symptoms of angina, such as chest pain or pressure.

The specialized muscle cells in the heart are called "cardiac ___________".

Cardiac myocytes (the cells of your heart muscle) are dependent on the blood and electrical supply to coordinate the contractions of cells to make your heart pump properly.

What is a small device that is placed in the chest or abdomen to help control abnormal heart rhythms?

Low-energy electrical pulses generated by a pacemaker will prompt the heart to beat at a normal rate.

What word is sometimes used as a synonym for fats?

Lipids are naturally occurring molecules that function to store energy and acting as structural components of cell membranes, among other things.

What is another word for high levels of fats (or lipids) in your blood?

It is important to make healthy diet choices and increase exercise to start lowering your high cholesterol.

What is the "good" cholesterol?

Exercise and moderate consumption of alcohol raise your HDL levels (which stands for high density lipoprotein), whereas obesity and smoking decrease your HDL levels.

What is "bad" cholesterol?

LDL, which stands for low density lipoprotein, mobilizes and deposits cholesterol to the tissue, where it can contribute to plaque formation and progress to heart disease.

What is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids?

Omega-3 fatty acids are abundant in fish oils and are beneficial, whereas (trans)unsaturated fats produced by artificial hydrogenation of polyunsaturated oils (used in baked goods and margarine) adversely affect cholesterol profiles.

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