ow what factors caused it (Ex. Smoking, high cholesterol, obesity, hypertension, or diabetes)?" One problem I had was getting in touch with my aunt to interview her. The successes I had were getting in touch with my grandpa, uncle, and cousin with little trouble.
             Heart disease is a structural or functional abnormality of the heart, or of the blood vessels supplying the heart, that impairs it's normal functioning. There have been many contributions in science and history in the diagnosis of heart disease. One contribution was the discovery of evidence for the existence of some forms of heart diseases in the oldest Egyptian mummies. Another was when disordered heart action was recognized by the Greek physicians, even though its significance was not understood at that time. Ante mortem diagnosis made little progress until Rene Laennec invented the stethoscope in 1819. Several important anatomical studies of heart disease were made in the later part of the17th century. From that time on there were sporadic contributions to the pathology and pathological physiology of heart disease. It was not until the true nature of the circulation of the blood was discovered by William Harvey that the background for more understanding was established. Rudolf Virchow contributed much knowledge to the pathology of the circulatory system.
             Between the 55-64 year age group and the 65-74 year age group death rates were more than doubled. Between the 65-74 year age group and the 80+ year age group rates increased more than six times. Overall, men have a higher death rate from heart disease than woman. Even though, the heart disease death rate increases with increasing age, for both sexes. Heart disease is the leading type of disease to cause death in the United States. Cardiovascular Disease kills nearly 1 million people each year. Despite these figures, the death rate from Cardiovascular Diseases has declined since the mid-1970's, due to th...