[Cardiovascular risk stratification: from algorithms to clinical phenotype]

For an appropriate implementation of both primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention strategies, stratification of the individual cardiovascular risk is recommended. Given that atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases have a multifactorial origin, risk stratification should take into consideration several risk factors, both non-modifiable ones such as age, and modifiable ones, such as cholesterol levels, diabetes, blood pressure levels, cigarette smoking, and body weight. For apparently healthy individuals, to define the risk of each subject of having a cardiovascular event within 10 years, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines recommend the use of specific risk scores depending on patient's age (SCORE2 between 40 and 69 years, SCORE2-OP ≥70 years). For diabetic patients without evidence of cardiovascular disease, the use of the SCORE2-Diabetes is recommended. In clinical practice, the use of the ESC CVD Risk Calculation application, by entering all the parameters required by the different scores, allows a rapid estimate of individual risk. Patients with known atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease have a very high cardiovascular risk.