Cardiovascular medications: Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have reached epidemic proportions in developed countries, and are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality. An estimated 16.7 million - or 29.2% of total global deaths - result from the various forms of CVD, many of which are preventable by healthy diet, regular physical activity, and smoking cessation [1]. CVD is no longer the disease of the developed world: some 80% of all CVD deaths worldwide took place in developing, low and middle-income countries and these countries also account for 86% of the global CVD disease burden. By 2010, CVD will be the leading cause of death in developing countries. The rise in CVD reflects a significant change in diet habits, physical activity levels, and tobacco consumption worldwide as a result of industrialization, urbanization, economic development and food market globalization. To deal with this changing situation, an extraordinary array of new cardiovascular therapies continues to become available. These drugs and therapies are efficacious and are better tolerated than their predecessors, not only in the management but also in prevention of CVD. This results in ever more difficulty for the practitioners of medicine in understanding the mechanism of action of these medications and also in deciding the proper medication for their patients. This chapter is a concise presentation of the pharmacology of cardiovascular medications. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.