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Peripheral artery disease is more common in blacks than any other racial or ethnic group. The major risk factors for peripheral artery disease include smoking, older age, and diseases and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, coronary heart disease, stroke, and metabolic syndrome.

To get started and stay active make physical activity part of your daily routine, personalize the benefits, be active with friends and family, make everyday activities more active, reward yourself with time for physical activity, keep track of your progress, be active and safe, and talk with your doctor.

The major types of stroke are ischemic (when an artery to the brain becomes blocked) and hemorrhagic (when an artery in the brain leaks blood or breaks open).

Although no medicines can cure heart valve disease, lifestyle changes, and medicines often can treat symptoms successfully and delay problems for many years. Surgery may be required to repair or replace a faulty heart valve.

Most people who have mitral valve prolapse don’t need treatment. However, some people who have troublesome mitral valve backflow may be treated with medicines such as blood thinners, digoxin, diuretics, heart rhythm regulators, and vasodilators. People with an abnormal valve and significant backflow may need surgery, such as a valve repair and valve replacement or a transcatheter valve therapy procedure.

Heart-healthy eating involves choosing certain foods, such as fruits and vegetables, while limiting others, such as saturated and trans fats and added sugars. Your doctor may recommend the heart-healthy Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan because it has been proven to lower high blood pressure and “bad” LDL cholesterol in the blood. Visit our Delicious Heart-Healthy Eating page for recipes, cooking tips, and more.

The main risk factor for COPD is smoking. Other risk factors for COPD include long-term exposure to other lung irritants, or other medical conditions such as alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency.

COPD has no cure yet. However, lifestyle changes and treatments can help you feel better, stay more active, and slow the progress of the disease.

There are no specific symptoms of overweight and obesity. The signs of overweight and obesity include a high body mass index (BMI) and an unhealthy body fat distribution that can be estimated by measuring your waist circumference.

A lung VQ scan is an imaging test that uses a ventilation (V) scan to measure air flow in your lungs and a perfusion (Q) scan to see where blood flows in your lungs. It uses special x ray scanners outside of your body to create pictures of air and blood flow patterns in your lungs.