Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
2967183 Journal of Clinical Lipidology 2007 8 Pages PDF
Abstract
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) causes nearly one third of all deaths worldwide. Estimates of the cumulative effects of the most common cardiovascular risk factors indicate that >30% of the chronic care burden of CVD and >50% of deaths from CVD are attributable to modifiable risk factors, such as cigarette smoking, elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. While a significant percentage of patients present with one or more of these risk factors, health care practitioners encounter great difficulty in achieving long-term patient adherence to risk-factor modification interventions. More accurate stratification of death and disability risk across age, gender, and ethnic categories-and more comprehensible quantification of the magnitude and timeframe of the impact of risk-factor modification on such risks-will likely be useful to patients and health care practitioners in the implementation of more effective strategies. There is a need to study which risk-assessment methodologies, which depictions of short- and long-term risk, and which intervention modalities will have the greatest possible impact on patients' understanding of risk factors and risk-modification behaviors.
Related Topics
Health Sciences Medicine and Dentistry Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine
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