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One of the most common complications of heart disease, heart failure occurs when your heart can't pump enough blood to meet your body's needs. Heart failure can result from many forms of heart disease, including heart defects, cardiovascular disease, valvular heart disease, heart infections or cardiomyopathy. A buildup of fatty plaques in your arteries, or atherosclerosis (ath-ur-o-skluh-ROE-sis) can damage your blood vessels and heart. Plaque buildup causes narrowed or blocked blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain (angina) or stroke. Coronary artery disease symptoms may be different for men and women. For instance, men are more likely to have chest pain. Women are more likely to have other signs and symptoms along with chest discomfort, such as shortness of breath, nausea and extreme fatigue. 

Signs and symptoms can include:

• Chest pain, chest tightness, chest pressure and chest discomfort (angina)

• Shortness of breath

• Pain, numbness, weakness or coldness in your legs or arms if the blood vessels in those parts of your body are narrowed

• Pain in the neck, jaw, throat, upper abdomen or back. 

• Causes of heart infection A heart infection, such as endocarditis, is caused when germs reach your heart muscle. The most common causes of heart infection include:

• Bacteria

• Viruses

• Parasites

Causes of valvular heart disease

Many things can cause diseases of your heart valves. You may be born with valvular disease, or the valves may be damaged by conditions such as:

• Rheumatic fever

• Infections (infectious endocarditis)

• Connective tissue disorder

Heart Failure

When a person has heart failure, the heart is still working but not as well as it should. Congestive heart failure is a type of heart failure.

Heart failure can result from untreated coronary artery disease, high blood pressure, arrhythmias, and other conditions. These conditions can affect the heart’s ability to pump properly.

What causes heart disease?

Heart disease is a collection of diseases and conditions that cause cardiovascular problems. Each type of heart disease is caused by something entirely unique to that condition. Atherosclerosis and CAD result from plaque buildup in the arteries. Other causes of heart disease are described below.

Arrhythmia causes

Causes of an abnormal heart rhythm include:

• diabetes

• heart defects, including congenital heart defects

• medications, and herbal remedies

• High blood pressure (hypertension)

• excessive alcohol or caffeine use