Preventive cardiology

Abstract

Since the inaugural edition of this book, an increased awareness in preventing and treating heart disease has been spawned by revisions of cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes guidelines. As national guidelines have recently dictated, there is a trend in the direction of the lower the better for each of these risk factors. However, the past several years have also witnessed the emergence of diagnostic biomarkers of atherothrombosis that include C-reactive protein and noninvasive surrogates of atherosclerosis, such as carotid intima-media thickness and coronary calcification. In contrast, therapies that were previously deemed to have an important role in offsetting coronary heart disease (CHD) risk (e.g., antioxidant vitamins and hormone replacement therapy) have been shown to exert no beneficial impact. As our understanding of cardiovascular preventive measures continues to evolve, the goal of this chapter is to focus on the most important advances in this relatively new field with an emphasizes on clinical endpoint data influencing both initial and secondary cardiovascular events. © 2006 Humana Press Inc.