Open AccessThe patient with cardiovascular disease: Treatment strategies for preventing major events
Author(s) -
Cuffe Michael
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
clinical cardiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.263
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1932-8737
pISSN - 0160-9289
DOI - 10.1002/clc.4960291403
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care medicine , disease , psychological intervention , clinical trial , placebo , blood pressure , randomized controlled trial , statin , vascular disease , physical therapy , alternative medicine , pathology , psychiatry
An abundance of clinical data exists to support the ability of pharmacologic interventions to reduce risk for vascular events significantly; however, there remains a gap between this evidence and current clinical practice. Recent data from large‐scale, placebo‐controlled statin trials demonstrate that these agents dramatically reduce risk for cardiovascular events, even in moderate‐risk patients with normal to moderately elevated cholesterol levels. Data from trials of a broad range of antihypertensives reinforce the value of blood pressure (BP) management and indicate that some of these agents may have additional benefits beyond BP reduction. Similarly, meta‐analyses of randomized trials confirm that antiplatelet therapy prevents serious cardiovascular events in a wide range of high‐risk patients. Each of these interventions alone has been demonstrated to reduce the risk for vascular events by approximately 25 to 30%. A combination approach utilizing intensive risk‐reducing therapy with more than one of these agents has the potential to reduce the risk for vascular events by as much as 75%. Combined with nonpharmacologic risk reduction strategies, including exercise, diet, and smoking cessation, an opportunity exists to reduce the incidence of both first and recurrent cardiovascular events dramatically.