Changes in the
Cardiovascular System
For persons with disabilities, changes in the cardiovascular system may appear earlier than in individuals without disabilities. Individuals who have decreased activity that is accompanied by weight gain are much more likely to experience cardiovascular problems than those who are able to remain active and mobile in their aging years. An example are persons with high level spinal cord injury who may not be able to feel the early warning signs of angina or other heart related pains.
Individuals with developmental disabilities such as Down syndrome have been shown to be at higher risk for heart defects resulting in heart attacks at an earlier age. These effects are congenital in nature and interventions to overcome congenital heart defects are not generally available.
People who are aging experience significant overall change by reduced blood flow to the body, which typically becomes serious in the eighth decade. This results from a number of factors including:
- normal atrophy of the heart muscle, especially in the left ventricle which pumps oxygenated blood out to the body
- calcification of the heart valves
- loss of elasticity in artery walls (arteriosclerosis or "hardening of the arteries")
- intra-artery deposits (atherosclerosis)
The reduced blood flow results in less strength since:
- less oxygen is being exchanged
- reduced kidney and liver function
- less cellular nourishment
As a consequence, the individual is more vulnerable to:
- drug toxicity
- has a slower rate of healing
- a lower response to stress
Other consequences of these cardiovascular changes are:
- hypertension with an increased risk of stroke
- heart attack
- congestive heart failure
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