Recognising rare cardiovascular disease: the importance of red flags

In the UK and the European Union, a rare disease is defined as a condition affecting less than one in 2000 people. Approximately 7000 diseases are classified as rare and around 300–400 million people worldwide live with a rare disease. Rare and undiagnosed diseases are receiving significant attention globally and increasingly in nursing practice. This attention is concurrent with policy and innovation, as well as research into rare and undiagnosed diseases, both broadly and focusing on specific diseases or disorders. There is also increased clinician, patient, family and stakeholder awareness, which is driving the research and development agenda, with a focus on finding treatments. Nurses, as the largest global healthcare professional group, have an important role in the care and support of patients and their families. Nurses are often the first, and sometimes the only, healthcare professional a patient has access to. Whether they are a specialist or generalist, the role of the nurse is often the common link during the patient's healthcare journey. This article presents insight into the nature of rare diseases, with a focus on cardiovascular presentations and the identification of red flags using an illustrative care study to bring focus to ‘thinking rare’ when assessing patients.