In February, Valentine’s Day often turns attention to affairs of the heart, but it’s also American Heart Month, the perfect time to focus on affairs of heart and cardiovascular health.

The importance of heart and cardiovascular health cannot be overstated. Worldwide, cardiovascular diseases are leading causes of death. In the United States, one person dies from cardiovascular disease every 34 seconds. In 2023, 1 out of every 3 deaths in the US was the result of cardiovascular disease.

At Health Edco, we are dedicated to creating and providing the best heart health teaching tools available for educators to use to teach patients and clients the basics of how cardiovascular disease develops and what steps can be taken to help prevent it.

Read on to learn more about cardiovascular disease, and discover just a few of our engaging heart health materials and models that really get to the heart of the matter!

Cardiovascular disease is an overarching term used to describe all types of diseases involving the heart and blood vessels. Heart disease is a type of cardiovascular disease and is used as a broad term for many different conditions affecting the structure and function of the heart, such as coronary heart disease, congenital heart disease, and heart failure.

Two of the most common types of cardiovascular disease are coronary heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack, and cerebrovascular disease, which can cause a stroke.

The most common type of heart disease is coronary heart disease (also known as coronary artery disease or ischemic heart disease). Coronary heart disease develops when plaque (deposits of fat, cholesterol, and other substances) builds up on the walls of coronary arteries, causing them to narrow or harden. The narrowed arteries decrease blood flow to the heart, which can cause chest pain (angina). If plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form around it and drastically reduce or block blood flow in a coronary artery, resulting in a heart attack.

Our popular Deluxe Occluded Artery Model is an interactive teaching tool designed to help viewers understand how plaque buildup in the arteries impedes blood flow. Flipping the display upside down demonstrates how easily blood cells travel through a clean artery, while blood cells in the model’s artery clogged by plaque buildup get stuck, which can result in a heart attack or stroke.

There are two main types of strokes. About 80 percent of strokes are ischemic strokes. An ischemic stroke occurs when a blood clot narrows or blocks a blood vessel in the brain. Clots can result from fatty deposits (plaque) that build up in an artery that supplies blood to the brain. Clots can also come from other parts of the body, typically the heart, and travel through the bloodstream to become clogged in brain arteries.

The second main type of stroke is hemorrhagic stroke. A hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel in the brain breaks or ruptures.

Our See for Yourself: Blood Pressure Checks Easel Display is a great 3-D tool to teach about what a stroke is and how it can occur. The display features four sculpted models representing a stroke-affected brain, as well as a weakened artery, a burst artery (characteristic of a hemorrhagic stroke), and a completely blocked artery (characteristic of an ischemic stroke). Easy-to-read text explains each model and the importance of keeping blood pressure under control.

Being physically active; maintaining a healthy weight; avoiding all tobacco products; and managing blood pressure, blood sugar, and blood cholesterol levels are important ways to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but other factors also play a role in overall risk.

Interactive and informative, our Heart Disease Risk Factors Display is a useful tool to help patients and students calculate a general analysis of their heart disease risk. Users move a bright red arrow up a sliding scale as they calculate their general risk. Great for health fairs and workshops, the display is a non-threatening way to encourage participants to work with their healthcare professionals to assess their overall risk for cardiovascular disease.