Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Nursing Practice: Focus on Children and Youth

Abstract

Full title: Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in nursing practice: Focus on children and youth: A scientific statement from the American Heart Association committee on atherosclerosis, hypertension, and obesity in youth of the council on cardiovascular disease in the young, council on cardiovascular nursing, council on epidemiology and prevention, and council on nutrition, physical activity, and metabolism. Compelling evidence accumulated over the past 3 decades supports a life course approach to primary prevention of CVD with efforts beginning early in childhood. Data from laboratory, clinical, and epidemiological studies also underscore the importance of both population-based/public health and individual/high-risk strategies for CVD prevention beginning early in childhood and extending across the life course. Current science-based recommendations, highlighted in this statement, emphasize the development and maintenance of healthy lifestyle behaviors and therapeutic lifestyle change as the cornerstone of interventions focused on promoting cardiovascular health and reducing the risk and burden of CVD. Additional research is needed, however, to inform, guide, and evaluate optimal life course strategies for CVD prevention, including multidisciplinary models and integrated systems of healthcare that link individual/high-risk and populationbased/public health strategies. Equipped with the evidence base in prevention, developmental life course, and behavioral science and the respective skill sets and competencies, nurses will continue to be central and essential in the design and implementation of effective strategies for CVD prevention. © 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.