Global Challenges in Cardiovascular Prevention in Populations with Low Socioeconomic Status

Cardiovascular Prevention  (CVP) has included important technological advances and determined improvements in morbidity and mortality since the last 70 and 60 years. However, in populations with socioeconomic limited resources even basic health preserving tools such as access to a primary care provider and basic drug therapy for diabetes mellitus, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol are not within the reach of many. There is indeed limited information on the level of CVP available in low-income countries and even in similar segments of deprived populations from high income nations. More information is needed in the prevalence and outcomes in these socioeconomic groups on the major determinants of cardiovascular disease and death: hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, coronary heart disease, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, and multi-organ involvement. Moreover, in many countries (and not only in those with limited socioeconomic resources) basic preventive measures are still lagging behind (weight control, healthy diet, sedentary lifestyles, smoking cessation, alcohol use). In this book, contributors will review the prevalence of these risk factors as well as discuss possible remedial measures.

In the different chapters, scientists from different countries and regions and with extensive research done in CVP in their respective fields will give their views on the status of CVP and suggest feasible remedial steps. Currently, there are many publications on the exciting and more recent developments in CVP, and the new directions undertaken (polygenic risk scores, primordial prevention, new antilipidemic and anti-inflammatory therapies, etc.). This book, in contrast, will go precisely in the opposite direction, defining the most basic and known effective CVP tools applied in the largest segment of the world’s population.

This will be a valuable resource for students and professionals from different specialties, such as primary care providers, cardiologists, registered nurses, public health professionals, social workers, and economists. It will also be of interest to readers in the graduate and undergraduate levels. To ensure broad accessibility, an open access option is available for those with limited financial resources.