Practical organisation of preventive cardiology programmes: integrating prevention and rehabilitation

The aim of the European Heart Health Charter is to substantially reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the European Union and the WHO European Region and to reduce inequities and inequalities in disease burden within and between countries (www.heartcharter.eu). Lifestyles of populations and associated risk factors which lead to CVD can be addressed by policymakers through providing supportive environments through legislative or other measures, and by individuals through behaviours favouring healthy diets, being smoke-free and engaging in regular physical activity. This is called primordial prevention. However, the burden of CVD can also be reduced by physicians and other health professionals through identification and treatment of people at high cardiovascular risk, namely primary prevention, and through early diagnosis, appropriate disease management, and comprehensive secondary prevention and rehabilitation [1]. Whereas primordial prevention is mainly seen as the task of politicians and health authorities, primary and secondary prevention of CVD is the main responsibility of health professionals including general practitioners, specialists involved in the care of patients with CVD, diabetes and chronic kidney disease and for all cardiologists irrespective of the subspecialty in which they practice. To prevent the development or recurrence of CVD in all these high-risk patients is a major challenge for preventive cardiology. Comprehensive cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation is the most effective approach for CVD risk reduction and long-term care of cardiovascular patients [2–5].