 [ Symptoms ] what is atherosclerosis [ Disease ] atherosclerosis    hardening and narrowing of the arteries    gets a lot of bad press with good reason this progressive process silently and slowly blocks arteries putting blood flow at risk atherosclerosis is the usual cause of heart attacks strokes and peripheral vascular disease    what together are called cardiovascular disease  cardiovascular disease is the no 1 killer in america with more than 800 000 deaths in 2005