Diseases of the circulatory system--hospitalization and mortality.

Health Reports, Vol. 17, No. 1, November 2005 Statistics Canada, Catalogue 82-003 Diseases of the circulatory system are the major cause of illness, disability, and death in Canada.1 The most common of these diseases are ischemic heart disease (which includes acute myocardial infarction or heart attack ), congestive heart failure, and cerebrovascular disease (stroke). A heart attack is typically caused by a blockage (usually a blood clot) in a coronary artery that severely restricts or cuts off the blood supply to a region of the heart. If this lasts more than a few minutes, heart tissue dies.2 Congestive heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer pump blood at the rate needed by the body’s tissues. A stroke involves loss of brain function when a clot or piece of atherosclerotic plaque breaks away from another area of the body and blocks a blood vessel in the brain (ischemic), or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts (hemorrhagic), thereby allowing blood to leak into an area of the brain and destroy it.3