Cardiovascular risk assessment

Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the Westernised world. Lifestyle changes and drug therapy can reduce cardiovascular risk. Many interventions such as lipid-lowering therapy reduce relative risk to the same extent irrespective of baseline risk, but the absolute benefit...

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Main Author: D.J. Blom
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AOSIS 2011-04-01
Series:South African Family Practice
Subjects:
Online Access:https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/1646
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author D.J. Blom
author_facet D.J. Blom
author_sort D.J. Blom
collection DOAJ
description Cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the Westernised world. Lifestyle changes and drug therapy can reduce cardiovascular risk. Many interventions such as lipid-lowering therapy reduce relative risk to the same extent irrespective of baseline risk, but the absolute benefit is still highest in those with the highest absolute risk. Cardiovascular risk assessment is a tool to determine absolute cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic patients and to select those most likely to benefit from intervention. Conventional risk assessment (Framingham) requires age, gender, blood pressure, smoking status, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) to determine risk. This is usually expressed as the 10-year risk of coronary heart disease. The accuracy and predictive ability of conventional risk assessment have limitations. Many biomarkers, genetic tests and vascular imaging procedures correlate statistically with vascular risk. Adding these tests to conventional risk assessment (expanded risk assessment) may therefore improve our ability to predict risk. It has, however, been difficult to conclusively demonstrate that expanded risk assessment outperforms conventional risk assessment. Many tests and procedures require further validation before they become part of routine clinical practice. Additional testing may be useful in patients with intermediate risk or where risk is difficult to determine for other reasons.
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spelling doaj-art-db5cfcdc41934bf7b75c9161462dff612025-08-20T03:07:10ZengAOSISSouth African Family Practice2078-61902078-62042011-04-0153210.1080/20786204.2011.108740704551Cardiovascular risk assessmentD.J. Blom0Division of Lipidology, Department of Medicine, University of Cape TownCardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of mortality in the Westernised world. Lifestyle changes and drug therapy can reduce cardiovascular risk. Many interventions such as lipid-lowering therapy reduce relative risk to the same extent irrespective of baseline risk, but the absolute benefit is still highest in those with the highest absolute risk. Cardiovascular risk assessment is a tool to determine absolute cardiovascular risk in asymptomatic patients and to select those most likely to benefit from intervention. Conventional risk assessment (Framingham) requires age, gender, blood pressure, smoking status, total cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC) to determine risk. This is usually expressed as the 10-year risk of coronary heart disease. The accuracy and predictive ability of conventional risk assessment have limitations. Many biomarkers, genetic tests and vascular imaging procedures correlate statistically with vascular risk. Adding these tests to conventional risk assessment (expanded risk assessment) may therefore improve our ability to predict risk. It has, however, been difficult to conclusively demonstrate that expanded risk assessment outperforms conventional risk assessment. Many tests and procedures require further validation before they become part of routine clinical practice. Additional testing may be useful in patients with intermediate risk or where risk is difficult to determine for other reasons.https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/1646cardiovascular riskframinghamcrpcarotid intima media thicknesscoronary artery calcium score
spellingShingle D.J. Blom
Cardiovascular risk assessment
South African Family Practice
cardiovascular risk
framingham
crp
carotid intima media thickness
coronary artery calcium score
title Cardiovascular risk assessment
title_full Cardiovascular risk assessment
title_fullStr Cardiovascular risk assessment
title_full_unstemmed Cardiovascular risk assessment
title_short Cardiovascular risk assessment
title_sort cardiovascular risk assessment
topic cardiovascular risk
framingham
crp
carotid intima media thickness
coronary artery calcium score
url https://safpj.co.za/index.php/safpj/article/view/1646
work_keys_str_mv AT djblom cardiovascularriskassessment