[Cardiovascular risk in the 21st century: identifying risk in primary prevention. Controlling risk in secondary...

If a primary prevention strategy for cardiovascular disease is to be implemented successfully, it is essential to have some knowledge of the level of risk in the general population, long before clinical disease appears. Traditionally, risk stratification has been based on risk factors that were first described some 50 years ago. However, we know that we are not able to identify all individuals who could present with a cardiovascular condition. in recent years, various techniques, principally imaging techniques, have been developed for detecting subclinical vascular disease, but they have not yet been approved for general use. While we will clearly witness changes in cardiovascular risk assessment in the future, until then we must make use of every available tool to ensure that any patient who needs our expertise does not escape our attention. Once a patient presents with clinical symptoms of cardiovascular disease or is known to have silent disease, we must implement secondary prevention measures to avoid the appearance of additional clinical conditions. in addition to strictly controlling risk factors, we must also make use of both drug treatment and surgical revascularization, strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective but which are underutilized. Above all, there is the unfinished business of modifying lifestyles to encourage healthier habits. Considerable medical progress will be lost if we do not improve our diet, exercise regularly and completely ban smoking.