Week 3 Discussion Post.docx - NURS 6521N-36 Advanced...

NURS 6521N-36 – Advanced Pharmacology
Discussion Post Week 3 – Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Disorders
Cynthia Nwokocha
June 12, 2017
Pharmacotherapy for Cardiovascular Disorders
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United
States. CVD is a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, and they
include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral arterial
disease; and rheumatic heart disease, congenital heart disease, deep vein
thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism (Hajar, 2016). This week’s post will
examine the pharmacotherapy for cardiovascular disorders.
Case Study #3
Patient CB has a history of strokes. The patient has been diagnosed with
type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. Drugs currently prescribed
include the following:
 Glipizide 10 mg po daily
 HCTZ 25 mg daily
 Atenolol 25 mg po daily
 Hydralazine 25 mg qid
 Simvastatin 80 mg daily

 Verapamil 180 mg CD daily
Risk Factors and Associated Health Issues
Heart attacks and strokes are usually acute events and are mainly caused
by arteriosclerosis involving heart or brain. The cause of heart attacks and
strokes is usually the presence of a combination of risk factors, such as age,
gender, ethnicity, tobacco use, birth weight, unhealthy diet and obesity,
physical inactivity, alcohol abuse, hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia.
CVD becomes more common with age, and are in fact diseases of aging.
Around 83 million Americans are estimated to have one or more types of CVD,
and 42 million of them are age 60 or older (Alliance for Ageing Research,
2017). At age 80 and older, 83% of women and 87% of men have some type of
CVD (Alliance for Aging Research, 2017). Age is a continuous risk factor for the
occurrence of stroke, with an increase in the incidence and prevalence rates
for each successive 5 years after age 65 years (Arboix, 2015). Men show a
higher incidence of stroke than women. Regarding ethnicity/race, it has been
demonstrated that black patients have a higher incidence of stroke vs white
patients (Arboix, 2015). Intracranial atherosclerotic disease is more frequent