Coronary heart disease is a heart condition also known as coronary artery disease, coronary atherosclerosis, or chronic ischaemic heart disease. The coronary arteries supply your heart muscle with oxygen-rich blood. Plaque narrows your arteries and reduces your blood flow to your heart muscle.

Plaque is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances found in the blood often as a result of a high saturated fat or high cholesterol diet. When plaque builds up in your arteries, the condition is called atherosclerosis.

The presence of plaque also makes it more likely that blood clots will form in your arteries. Blood clots can partially or completely block your blood flow.

Symptoms of CHD

People with coronary heart disease may experience:

• shortness of breath
• difficulty breathing
• chest pain or angina often experienced as a gripping or squeezing pain in the heart
• palpitations which may be felt as an irregular, fluttering or skipping heartbeat
• fainting,
• dizziness
• brief loss of consciousness.

Coronary heart disease can also lead to a heart attack (myocardial infarction) which occurs when one of the coronary arteries is blocked by a blood clot or a cholesterol plaque.  Part of the heart muscle is then starved of oxygenated blood and is subsequently damaged or dies. It can also lead to a stroke where the clot or plaque lodges in an artery in the brain.