[Recognizing patients at high risk for myocardial infarct]].
Several controlled intervention trials proved the benefit of antihypertensive and hypolipidemic drugs for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD). International guidelines for the prevention of CHD agree in their recommendations for secondary prevention and recommend to lower blood pressure below 140/90 mm Hg and LDL-cholesterol below 3 mmol/l (or even < 2.6 mmol/l) in patients with manifest CHD. Novel recommendations for primary prevention are focused on the treatment of the presymptomatic high risk patient with an estimated risk of higher than 2% per year. For the calculation of this risk, the physician must record the following risk factors: gender, age, family history of premature myocardial infarction, smoking, diabetes, blood pressure, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, and triglyceride. This information allows computing the absolute risk of myocardial infarction by using scores or algorithms which have been deduced from results of epidemiological studies.
von Eckardstein
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A
Institut für Klinische Chemie, Universitätsspital Zürich. Arnold.voneckardstein@ikc.usz.ch
Schulte
H
H
Assmann
G
G
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D013557:Switzerland