ABSTRACT
Among non-communicable disease (NCDs), cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world (World Health Organization [WHO] 2014). CVD is a class of diseases that involve heart and blood vessels. It includes coronary artery disease (CAD), such as angina and myocardial infarction, also known as acute coronary syndrome (ACS), as well as other CVDs, such as stroke, peripheral artery disease, hypertensive heart disease, rheumatic heart disease, cardiomyopathy, atrial brillation, congenital heart disease, endocarditis, aortic aneurysms, and venous thrombosis. Coronary artery disease and stroke account for 80% of CVD deaths in males and 75% of CVD deaths in females. It is noteworthy that of the 17.5 million deaths due to CVD globally in 2012, an estimated 7.4 million were attributed to ischemic heart disease and 6.7 million to stroke (WHO 2014). It has also been projected that the number of people who will die from CVD, mainly from heart disease and stroke, could reach 23.3 million globally by 2030 (Mathers and Loncar 2006; WHO 2014).
