Abstract

All coronary patients should be advised and have the opportunity to access a comprehensive cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation programme, addressing all aspects of lifestyle - smoking cessation, healthy eating and being physically active - together with more effective management of blood pressure, lipids and glucose. To achieve the clinical benefits of a multidisciplinary and multifactorial prevention programme we need to integrate professional lifestyle interventions with effective risk factor management, and evidence based drug therapies, appropriately adapted to the medical, cultural, and economic setting of a country. The challenge is to engage and motivate cardiologists, physicians and health professionals to routinely practice high quality preventive cardiology in hospital and community, and a health care system which invests in prevention.

Keywords: Primary cardiovascular prevention, secondary prevention, cardiac rehabilitation