The American Heart Association (AHA...

The American Heart Association (AHA) has issued a consensus guideline statement in succession improving cardiovascular health at the community horizontal The report appears in the Feb 4 2003 issue of Circulation. Circulation is available online at www.circulation aha.org.

The AHA community guidelines use a public health approach to risk factor modification, in contrast with the high-risk approach that is used in clinical settings in which individual patients' risk plains are assessed and patients at high risk are treated intensively. The goal of the community-based guidelines is to impede the onset of risk factors. This strategy has the potential to thwart first heart attacks or thumps in persons at average risk and to avoid the ne for intensive pharmacotherapy to regulate risk factors such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Behaviors targeted for change include diets high in cholesterol saturated fat, salt, and calories, and cheap in plant-based foods; sedentary lifestyle characterized by means of less than 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity by day; tobacco use or exposing to environmental tobacco smoke; lack of screening, counseling, and treatment for hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and other risk factors; and the lack of early recognition of symptoms of heart attack and stroke

The community settings include entire communities, drills work sites, religious organizations, or health care facilities.

Interventions include assessment of the community's cardiovascular disease rate to increase community awareness and to target further interventions, and education at the individual flat or through the media to communicate the risk, causes, and corrective stairs that can reduce cardiovascular risk. Legislative action may be destitutioned to protect against exposure to environmental tobacco exhalation or to provide resources for public health campaigns, clinical services, or rehabilitation.

COPYRIGHT 2003 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group