Stable chest pain is caused by reduced blood flow to the heart due to which condition?

• A. Hypertension
• B. Arrhythmia
• C. Viral infection
• D. Atherosclerosis

Answer: (D)

Stable chest pain, or angina, happens when the heart muscle doesn’t get enough oxygen because the coronary arteries are narrowed. The most common cause of this fixed narrowing is atherosclerosis—the buildup of plaques inside the arterial walls that reduces the inner lumen and limits blood flow to the heart, especially during activity when the heart needs more oxygen. This mismatch between oxygen supply and demand produces the characteristic chest discomfort that is triggered by exertion and relieved by rest or nitroglycerin. While hypertension can increase the heart’s oxygen demand over time and contribute to angina, it isn’t the direct cause of the reduced coronary blood flow. Viral infections or arrhythmias can cause chest symptoms through other mechanisms, but they don’t explain the typical stable exertional ischemia produced by coronary atherosclerosis.