Spanish adaptation of the 2016 European guidelines on cardiovascular disease prevention in clinical practice

The VI European Guidelines for Cardiovascular Prevention recommend combining population and high-risk strategies with lifestyle changes as a cornerstone of prevention, and propose the SCORE function to quantify cardiovascular risk. The guidelines highlight disease specific interventions, and conditions specific to women, young people and ethnic minorities. Screening for subclinical atherosclerosis with noninvasive imaging techniques is not recommended. The guidelines distinguish four risk levels (very high, high, moderate and low) with therapeutic objectives for lipid control according to risk. Diabetes mellitus confers a high risk, except for subjects with type 2 diabetes with less than ten years of evolution, with no other risk factors or complications, or type 1 diabetes of short evolution without complications. The decision to start pharmacological treatment of arterial hypertension will depend on the blood pressure level and cardiovascular risk, taking into account the lesion of target organs. The guidelines do not recommend antiplatelet drugs in primary prevention because of the increased risk of bleeding. The low adherence to the medication requires simplified therapeutic regimes and identifying and combating its causes. The guidelines highlight the responsibility of health professionals to play an active role in promoting evidence-based interventions at the population level, and propose effective interventions, both at individual and population level, to promote a healthy diet, the practice of physical activity, the cessation of smoking and the protection against alcohol abuse..