Controversies in Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: Answers to Key Questions Your Patients Are Asking

Primary prevention is aimed at preventing the onset of disease. One way of doing this is by controlling risk factors in healthy people that may lead to disease. Secondary prevention is aimed at treating a disease after its onset, but before it causes serious complications.  After completing this course, you will be better able to examine reliable sources of heart-smart choices and convey simple lifestyle messages on reducing heart disease risk to patients.

Target Audience

Cardiologists, Endocrinologists, Family Physicians, General Internists, Gynecologists and Physician Assistants.

Learning Objectives

  • Communicate with patients regarding effective strategies to identify and reduce heart disease risk.
  • Examine reliable sources of information on heart-smart lifestyle choices to share with patients.
  • Implement simple evidence-based lifestyle messages to communicate with patients.
Additional information
Bibliography: 
  • Shaharyar S, Roberson LL, Jamal O, Younus A, Blaha MJ, Ali SS, Zide K, Agatston AA, Blumenthal RS, Conceição RD, Santos RD, Nasir K. J Obes. 2015;2015:178526. doi: 10.1155/2015/178526. Epub 2015 Mar 9. Obesity and metabolic phenotypes (metabolically healthy and unhealthy variants) are significantly associated with prevalence of elevated C-reactive protein and hepatic steatosis in a large healthy Brazilian population.
  • Martin SS, Sperling LS, Blaha MJ, Wilson PW, Gluckman TJ, Blumenthal RS, Stone NJ. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2015 Apr 7;65(13):1361-1368. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2015.01.043. Review. Clinician-Patient Risk Discussion for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Prevention: Importance to Implementation of the 2013 ACC/AHA Guidelines.
  • Juraschek SP, Blaha MJ, Blumenthal RS, Brawner C, Qureshi W, Keteyian SJ, Schairer J, Al-Mallah MH. Diabetes Care. 2015 Mar 12. pii: dc142714. Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Incident Diabetes: The FIT (Henry Ford Exercise Testing) Project.
  • McEvoy JW, Nasir K, DeFilippis AP, Lima JA, Bluemke DA, Hundley WG, Barr RG, Budoff MJ, Szklo M, Navas-Acien A, Polak JF, Blumenthal RS, Post WS, Blaha MJ.Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2015 Apr;35(4):1002-10. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.114.304960. Epub 2015 Mar 5. Relationship of cigarette smoking with inflammation and subclinical vascular disease: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis.
  • Chapter 4 Reducing risks and preventing disease: population-wide interventions 
Course Summary
Available credit: 
  • 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 0.50 General certificate of attendance
Course opens: 
05/15/2016
Course expires: 
05/15/2017

Michael Joseph Blaha, M.D., MPH
Director of Clinical Research, Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, Maryland

Michael Joseph Blaha, M.D., MPH, indicated that neither he nor his spouse/partner has relevant financial relationships with commercial interest companies, and he will not include off-label or unapproved product usage in his presentations or discussions.

Non-faculty contributors and others involved in the planning, development and editing/review of the content have no relevant financial relationships to disclose. 

Disclosure Policy and Disclaimer 

Available Credit

  • 0.50 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™
  • 0.50 General certificate of attendance
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