Cardiovascular risk screening refers to the process of assessing an individual's likelihood of developing

cardiovascular diseases Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheuma ...

. The main aim of screening is to identify risk factors early and adopt preventive measures to reduce morbidity and mortality. Early identification of risk factors can lead to timely interventions, such as lifestyle changes, medications, or surgical treatment. This approach helps in reducing the incidence of major cardiovascular events like

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Common risk factors

Key risk factors that are evaluated during cardiovascular risk screening include: *

Hypertension Hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, is a Chronic condition, long-term Disease, medical condition in which the blood pressure in the artery, arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms i ...

Hyperlipidemia Hyperlipidemia is abnormally high levels of any or all lipids (e.g. fats, triglycerides, cholesterol, phospholipids) or lipoproteins in the blood. citing: and The term ''hyperlipidemia'' refers to the laboratory finding itself and is also use ...

Diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

* Obesity * Smoking * Physical inactivity * Unhealthy diet * Family history of cardiovascular diseases * Age (Men over 45 and women over 55 are at higher risk) * Gender (Men are generally at higher risk, though postmenopausal women are also vulnerable)

Screening methods

Cardiovascular risk screening typically involves a combination of clinical assessments, laboratory tests, and lifestyle evaluations. Commonly used methods include: * Blood Pressure Measurement * Lipid Profile Test * Blood Glucose Test * Body Mass Index (BMI) * Electrocardiogram (ECG) * Risk Assessment Tools such as the

Framingham Risk Score The Framingham Risk Score is a sex-specific algorithm used to estimate the 10-year cardiovascular risk of an individual. The Framingham Risk Score was first developed based on data obtained from the Framingham Heart Study, to estimate the 10-year ...

and QRISK help to evaluate the cardiovascular risk.

Challenges

There are several challenges including: * Lack of awareness * Access to healthcare * Cost

References

{{reflist Health Risk analysis