People with heart disease often have uncontrolled risk factors

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A large international study shows that people with atherothrombosis also tend to have other heart risk factors.
Atherothrombosis is the clinical term for the thickening of the artery walls that leads to heart disease, stroke and peripheral arterial disease. Now doctors at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio present new data from the Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health (REACH) Registry which reveals more about those who have the condition.

Atherothrombotic patients around the world have similar risk profiles - 80 per cent have high blood pressure, 72 per cent have high cholesterol and 44 per cent have diabetes. Nearly 40 per cent are overweight and 26 per cent are obese (3.6 per cent morbidly obese). Generally patients are undertreated with statins - which lower cholesterol - and other evidence-based therapies. Many also have undiagnosed hypertension and 14 per cent continue to smoke. All this reveals a big gap between recommendations for management of atherothrombosis and what is actually happening. Those at risk have much to gain by following through more on guidelines for dealing with atherothrombosis.

Source
Journal of the American Medical Association 11th January 2006 Volume 295 pages 180-189