Heart disease does not kill people. Heart attacks do.

Appreciating this distinction is critical to understanding heart disease.

Heart disease is the presence of plaque or atherosclerosis in the coronary arteries.

(Heart disease can, of course, refer to many other heart-related conditions, but in general, the terms heart disease and coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis are typically used interchangeably)

A heart attack occurs when plaque ruptures in the artery, forming a clot that blocks blood flow down the artery, and the heart muscle dies.

from Pocket
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