Handbook of cardiovascular behavioral medicine

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide. It is well recognized that traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease have limited predictive utility in the identification of new cardiovascular disease cases and outcomes. Thus, investigators have argued that application of a biopsychosocial research paradigm in this field may be of particular utility in understanding cardiovascular disease pathogenesis. Accordingly, a subdiscipline within the field of behavioral medicine – cardiovascular behavioral medicine – examines interrelations among biological, behavioral, psychological, social, and environmental factors in cardiovascular health and disease

Classification of cardiovascular diseases: Epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment

This chapter reviews the main cardiovascular diseases (CVD) that are common in clinical practice and have received substantial attention from researchers in behavioral medicine and related disciplines. A concise overview is provided for hypertension, ischemic heart disease, cardiomyopathies, heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and stroke. For each CVD, we present information about disease characteristics, epidemiology, diagnostic tools, disease mechanisms, and treatment options. This chapter concludes with a general discussion of how these CVD features are relevant to research in cardiovascular behavioral medicine