coronary heart disease

noun

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

Definition of coronary heart disease

: a condition and especially one caused by atherosclerosis that reduces blood flow through the coronary arteries to the heart and typically results in chest pain or heart damage — called also coronary artery disease

See coronary heart disease defined for kids

Recent Examples of coronary heart disease from the Web

Researchers have estimated that reducing sodium by a half teaspoon a day could prevent nearly 100,000 premature deaths a year, and up to 120,000 new cases of coronary heart disease, 66,000 strokes, and 99,000 heart attacks.

— jayne o'donnell and ashanea parker, USA TODAY, "FDA chief Scott Gottlieb pushes for lower sodium, better labels to reduce disease, obesity," 6 Apr. 2018
The presence of this fatty ring has been shown to be associated with some of the risk factors for coronary heart disease.

— adam taylor, CNN, "Heart disease risk may show in your earlobes, eyes, fingers," 29 Mar. 2018
People with coronary heart disease sometimes experience buildups of plaque — a combination of fat, calcium, cholesterol and other cellular junk — on the insides of their arteries.

— erin blakemore, Washington Post, "Once scary, heart bypass surgery has become common and safer," 6 Mar. 2018
Lower your risk of cancer: Beta-carotene may help prevent aging-associated health problems, including gastric and prostate cancer as well as inflammation and coronary heart disease.

— Good Housekeeping, "Why You Should Eat Carrots Every Single Day," 2 Mar. 2018
According to the most recent Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics Update from the American Heart Association, about 15.5 million Americans aged 20 and older have coronary heart disease.

— mohanageetha ardhanari, m.d. and juanita hunter, m.d., miamiherald, "Prevention of heart disease begins in childhood | Miami Herald," 16 Jan. 2018
To study the rivaling effects of air pollution and exercise, researchers examined 119 volunteers over 60 years old who were either healthy or had stable coronary heart disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).

— jason daley, Smithsonian, "Air Pollution May Diminish the Benefits of Exercise," 8 Dec. 2017
Those who ate more cheese had a 10% lower risk of having a stroke and were 14% less likely to developing coronary heart disease.

— caroline picard, Good Housekeeping, "Eating Cheese Every Day Might Actually Be Good for You," 6 Dec. 2017
In the 1960s, however, even as coronary heart disease rates skyrocketed, writes Alun Evans for the British Medical Journal, the only places defibrillators were to be found were hospitals.

— kat eschner, Smithsonian, "The Irish Cardiologist Whose Invention Saved LBJ," 3 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'coronary heart disease.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of coronary heart disease

1949

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

Medical Dictionary

coronary heart disease

noun

variants: or coronary artery disease also coronary disease

medical Definition of coronary heart disease

: a condition and especially one caused by atherosclerosis that reduces the blood flow through the coronary arteries to the heart muscle and typically results in chest pain or heart damage

High blood cholesterol … is an important risk factor for coronary heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States.
—The Journal of the American Medical Association, 22 Sept. 1993

The fatty acids called triglycerides significantly contribute to the progression of coronary artery disease, researchers have found.
—The New York Times, 19 July 1994

… exercise testing is a safe and relatively simple way to quantitate cardiovascular performance and detect coronary disease when interpreted in conjunction with other clinical findings.
—Terry Jopke, The Physician and Sports Medicine, March 1981