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Guideline on the Primary Prevention of CVD

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Dr Debabrata Mukherjee, Chairman, Department of Internal Medicine, Professor of Internal Medicine, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Texas, USA     05 December 2021

 

  • The most important way to prevent ASCVD, HF and AF is to promote a healthy lifestyle throughout life.
  • A team-based care approach is an effective strategy for the prevention of CVD.
  • Adults who are 40 to 75 years of age and are being evaluated for CVD prevention should undergo 10-year ASCVD risk estimation and have a clinician-patient risk discussion before starting on pharmacological therapy. In addition, assessing for other risk-enhancing factors can help guide decisions about preventive interventions in select individuals, as can coronary artery calcium scanning.
  • All adults should consume a healthy diet that emphasizes the intake of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, lean vegetable or animal protein, and fish and minimizes the intake of trans fats, red meat and processed red meats, refined carbohydrates, and sweetened beverages. For adults with overweight and obesity, counseling and caloric restriction are recommended.
  • Adults should engage in at least 150 minutes per week of accumulated moderate-intensity physical activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity physical activity.
  • For adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, lifestyle changes, such as improving dietary habits and achieving exercise recommendations, are crucial. If medication is indicated, metformin is first-line therapy, followed by consideration of a sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor or a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP1R) agonist.
  • All adults should be assessed at every healthcare visit for tobacco use; those who use tobacco should be assisted and strongly advised to quit. 
  • Aspirin should be used infrequently in the routine primary prevention of ASCVD because of lack of net benefit.
  • Statin therapy is first-line treatment for primary prevention of ASCVD in patients with elevated LDL-C levels (≥190 mg/dL), those with diabetes mellitus, who are 40 to 75 years of age and those determined to be at sufficient ASCVD risk after a clinician-patient risk discussion.
  • Nonpharmacological interventions are recommended for all adults with elevated BP or HT. For those requiring pharmacological therapy, the target BP should generally be <130/80 mmHg.

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