Cardiovascular Risk Management Program

What Is the Cardiovascular Risk Management Program

Knowing your heart risk is only an initial step. What matters is whether those risk factors are truly controlled over the long term. The cardiovascular risk management program is regular support from a health care team to help you lower your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar, reach a healthy weight, quit smoking, and keep these changes going.

How It Works in Brief

The program starts with a risk assessment to set personal targets. After that, the team prepares a step-by-step plan covering diet, physical activity, quitting smoking, and medicines if needed. At each follow-up visit, the results are compared with the targets. If the targets have not been reached, the plan is strengthened step by step. Once they are reached, the focus is on keeping the results stable.

Program Components

• Risk assessment and targets: calculating your 10-year risk and setting targets for blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, and blood sugar. This is covered on the Individual Heart Risk Screening page.
• Diet: a balanced eating pattern such as the Mediterranean or DASH pattern, with more vegetables, fruit, nuts and legumes, and fish, and less salt, sugar, and saturated fat.
• Physical activity: at least 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, plus strength training twice a week.
• Quitting smoking: counseling and stop-smoking medicines if needed. For smokers, this is a step with a large impact.
• Weight, sleep, and stress: losing weight if you are overweight, getting enough sleep, and managing stress. This is covered on the Lifestyle Counseling and Risk Management page.
• Medicines if needed: blood pressure medicines, cholesterol-lowering medicines, or diabetes medicines if lifestyle changes alone are not enough. This is covered on the Integrated Medication Therapy page.

Commonly Used Targets

• Blood pressure: the top (systolic) number is generally 120 to 129 mmHg if tolerated.
• LDL cholesterol: depending on your risk level, for example below 100 mg/dL at moderate risk and below 70 mg/dL at high risk.
• Blood sugar: HbA1c generally below 7 percent for people with diabetes.
• Smoking: quitting completely.
• Weight: a loss of 5 to 10 percent for people who are overweight already brings benefits.

Who Should Join

This program is beneficial for people with high or very high heart risk; people with uncontrolled hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, or metabolic syndrome; smokers who want to quit; and people who have had a heart attack, a heart stent placement, or a stroke, as a continuation of their treatment and rehabilitation.

There is no recovery period. The program runs alongside your daily activities.

Change little by little. Small, consistent changes are easier to maintain than big changes all at once.

Monitor yourself at home. Record your blood pressure, weight, and daily step count if advised, then bring the records to your follow-up visit.

Involve your family. Healthy eating and activity habits in the family help you stay on track.

Warning signs. Go to the emergency room right away if you experience:

• Chest pain or pressure during activity or at rest
• Unusual shortness of breath
• Severe dizziness or fainting during exercise
• A drooping face, arm weakness, or slurred speech