The following areas are explored:
Atherosclerosis as the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease
The continuum of cardiovascular risk factors
Major modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease - high blood pressure,
raised cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, smoking and obesity
Effectiveness of risk factor modifications in the reduction of mortality and
morbidity in people with known or unknown cardiovascular disease
Primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease
CVD, CHD, stroke and all the rest
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes lots of other problems that aren’t the big killers
(stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD)):
Hypertension
Diseases of arteries
e.g. atherosclerosis
Diseases of veins
e.g. deep vein thrombosis
Heart valve diseases
e.g. rheumatic heart disease
Diseases of lymph vessels and capillaries
e.g. lymphoedema
CVD Mortality
Deaths due to the sum of CVD diseases outweigh any other cause of death, although there
are sex differences (and that’s multifactorial!) with men having a higher incidence of CHD:
, We have a pretty good idea the prevention works because we’ve managed to drive down
the number of cardiovascular deaths over the last few decades. This is the result of two
types of prevention:
Primary prevention: lowering the risk of disease occurring
Secondary prevention: lowering the risk of disease recurring
There are regional differences in the rates of deaths due to CVD. These occur at several
levels. If we look across Europe, looking at the rates of CHD is different countries we see
that the UK has fairly low rates compared some countries, but rates in Portugal (for
example) are still lower. Just within the UK we also see differences when we compare the
CHD rates in England with the other home countries:
Atherosclerosis as the main underlying pathology of cardiovascular disease
The continuum of cardiovascular risk factors
Major modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease - high blood pressure,
raised cholesterol, diabetes mellitus, smoking and obesity
Effectiveness of risk factor modifications in the reduction of mortality and
morbidity in people with known or unknown cardiovascular disease
Primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease
CVD, CHD, stroke and all the rest
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes lots of other problems that aren’t the big killers
(stroke or coronary heart disease (CHD)):
Hypertension
Diseases of arteries
e.g. atherosclerosis
Diseases of veins
e.g. deep vein thrombosis
Heart valve diseases
e.g. rheumatic heart disease
Diseases of lymph vessels and capillaries
e.g. lymphoedema
CVD Mortality
Deaths due to the sum of CVD diseases outweigh any other cause of death, although there
are sex differences (and that’s multifactorial!) with men having a higher incidence of CHD:
, We have a pretty good idea the prevention works because we’ve managed to drive down
the number of cardiovascular deaths over the last few decades. This is the result of two
types of prevention:
Primary prevention: lowering the risk of disease occurring
Secondary prevention: lowering the risk of disease recurring
There are regional differences in the rates of deaths due to CVD. These occur at several
levels. If we look across Europe, looking at the rates of CHD is different countries we see
that the UK has fairly low rates compared some countries, but rates in Portugal (for
example) are still lower. Just within the UK we also see differences when we compare the
CHD rates in England with the other home countries:
