Peer Reviewed
Feature Article Cardiovascular medicine
The why, who and how of CHD prevention
Abstract
Absolute risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) is determined using all the major CHD risk factors, including age and gender, and is a better indicator than relative risk of those patients in whom intervention is appropriate. Various risk calculation tools exist to aid the accurate assessment of absolute risk.
Key Points
- Identify all patients who have established vascular disease.
- Use a tool to calculate the absolute risk of CHD in patients without established vascular disease, i.e. the risk of a patient having a vascular event over the ensuing five years.
- Intervene with lifestyle advice based on smoking, nutrition, alcohol and physical activity (SNAP) in all patients, when appropriate.
- Intervene with drugs and other therapies in addition to lifestyle advice for patients at high absolute risk, including those with established vascular disease.
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