Risk factor thresholds: Their existence under scrutiny

Abstract

Interventions to lower blood pressure, serum cholesterol, and other risk factors reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease regardless of initial levels. It follows, say Malcolm Law and Nicholas Wald, that the goal is not to "normalise" risk factors but to reduce them as much as possible. This means targeting everyone at high risk, as determined by age or known cardiovascular disease rather than by the level of the risk factors.