Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud

Background: Cardiovascular (CV) polypills are a useful baseline treatment to prevent CV diseases by combining different drug classes in a single pill to simultaneously target more than one risk factor. The aim of the present trial was to determine whether the treatment with the CNIC-polypill was at least non-inferior to usual care in terms of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c) and systolic BP (SBP) values in subjects at high or very high risk without a previous CV event. Methods: The VULCANO was an international, multicentre open-label trial involving 492 participants recruited from hospital clinics or primary care centres. Patients were randomised to the CNIC-polypill -containing aspirin, atorvastatin, and ramipril- or usual care. The primary outcome was the comparison of the mean change in LDL-c and SBP values after 16 weeks of treatment between treatment groups. Results: The upper confidence limit of the mean change in LDL-c between treatments was below the prespecified margin (10 mg/dL) and above zero, and non-inferiority and superiority of the CNIC-polypill (p = 0.0001) was reached. There were no significant differences in SBP between groups. However, the upper confidence limit crossed the prespecified non-inferiority margin of 3 mm Hg. Significant differences favoured the CNIC-polypill in reducing total cholesterol (p = 0.0004) and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (p = 0.0017). There were no reports of major bleeding episodes. The frequency of non-serious gastrointestinal disorders was more frequent in the CNICpolypill arm. Conclusion: The switch from conventional treatment to the CNIC-polypill approach was safe and appears a reasonable strategy to control risk factors and prevent CVD.

One of the objectives of the Spanish Society of Arteriosclerosis is to contribute to better knowledge of vascular disease, its prevention and treatment. It is well known that cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in our country and entail a high degree of disability and health care costs. Arteriosclerosis is a multifactorial disease and therefore its prevention requires a global approach that takes into account the different risk factors with which it is associated. Therefore, this document summarises the current level of knowledge and includes recommendations and procedures to be followed in patients with established cardiovascular disease or at high vascular risk. Specifically, this document reviews the main symptoms and signs to be evaluated during the clinical visit, the laboratory and imaging procedures to be routinely requested or requested for those in special situations. It also includes vascular risk estimation, the diagnostic criteria of the different entities that are cardiovascular risk factors, and makes general and specific recommendations for the treatment of the different cardiovascular risk factors and their final objectives. Finally, the document includes aspects that are not usually referenced in the literature, such as the organization of a vascular risk consultation.

Una prevención cardiovascular eficiente exige aprovechar todas las oportunidades de contacto de las personas con los Servicios de Salud para la detección de los factores de riesgo modificables (FRV) y estratificar el riesgo cardiovascular global (RCV). Ello implica especialmente a los servicios de Atención Primaria (AP), que deben coordinarse con la Atención Hospitalaria (AH) para poner a disposición de la población todos los recursos sanitarios disponibles. Además, es preciso tener en cuenta la aportación de la Salud Laboral (Medicina del Trabajo) y de las oficinas de Farmacia. Existen se˜nales esperanzadoras respecto a la posibilidad de superar las barreras que limitan el necesario intercambio de información entre los profesionales de AP y AH, como base para una adecuada coordinación entre ambos niveles asistenciales. Ello incluye la implantación de algoritmos de derivación y alta (en esta revisión nos referimos a los relacionados con las dislipidemias) aceptados por los profesionales de ambos niveles y facilitados en la actualidad por la disponibilidad de nuevas herramientas corporativas (móvil, correo electrónico, consulta virtual). El reto radica en aprovechar la oportunidad que ofrecen para hacer efectiva su implementación.

El actual paradigma en las ciencias de la nutrición establece que la unidad nutricional básica no son los nutrientes, sino los alimentos que los contienen (aceites, frutos secos, productos lácteos, huevos, carnes rojas o procesadas, etc.), que actúan como matriz alimentaria en la que los diferentes nutrientes modulan sinérgica o antagónicamente sus efectos sobre diversas vías metabólicas determinantes para la salud y la enfermedad. La alimentación no se basa en nutrientes ni en alimentos aislados sino en complejas mezclas de unos y otros que forman parte de un patrón alimentario concreto, concepto que se ha señalado como el más pertinente para evaluar las asociaciones entre nutrición y salud o enfermedad. Este documento resume las evidencias disponibles sobre la relación existente entre los diferentes alimentos y la salud cardiovascular, y ofrece recomendaciones sencillas para ser implementadas en el consejo dietético que se ofrezca por parte del profesional sanitario. / The current paradigm in the nutrition sciences states that the basic nutritional unit is not the nutrients, but the foods that contain them (oils, nuts, dairy products, eggs, red or processed meats, etc.), which act as a matrix food in which the different nutrients synergistically or antagonistically modulate their effects on various metabolic pathways determining health and disease. Food is not based on nutrients or isolated foods but on complex mixtures of one and the other that are part of a specific food pattern, a concept that has been targeted as the most pertinent to evaluate the associations between nutrition and health or disease. This document summarizes the available evidence on the relationship between different foods and cardiovascular health, and offers simple recommendations to be implemented in the dietary advice offered by the health professional.

El estilo de vida es un concepto complejo que incluye los aspectos externos a nosotros mismos que pueden modular e influir en nuestra salud. Los conocimientos sobre la relación entre el estilo de vida y el riesgo cardiovascular están lejos de proporcionar los niveles de evidencia que se han conseguido con los ensayos clínicos con fármacos, debido a que los estudios son escasos, fundamentalmente de tipo observacional y en grandes cohortes, con la dificultad añnadida de la no existencia de métodos seguros para conocer con precisión la ingesta diaria o lo largo de tiempo, así como la dificultad en la recogida de datos y en la medición de la adherencia debido a diferencias en la composición de los alimentos en distintas épocas y a la conducta alimentaria cambiante que posee el ser humano a lo largo del tiempo. En este documento nos hemos propuesto llevar a cabo una revisión actualizada y jerarquizada en base a las evidencias actuales, prestando atención a tres aspectos que tienen gran importancia patogénica y que podemos modificar directamente: la actividad física, el consumo de tabaco y el patrón de alimentación. Con ello pretendemos actualizar los nuevos conocimientos sobre su relación con el riesgo cardiovascular aportando evidencias útiles, constituyendo una herramienta sencilla dirigida especialmente a todos los profesionales de la salud implicados en el cuidado de personas con riesgo cardiovascular para trasladarlos a la práctica clínica, definiendo unas líneas de actuación sencillas y fáciles para ser transmitidas a las personas que reciban un consejo para la prevención primaria y secundaria de las enfermedades cardiovasculares. / Lifestyle is a complex concept that includes aspects external to ourselves that can modulate and influence our health. The knowledge of the relationship between lifestyle and cardiovascular risk does not attain the level of evidence achieved with clinical trials with drugs, because clinical studies are scarce and mainly of observational nature, albeit based on large cohorts. Nutritional epidemiology has the added difficulty of being based mostly on subjective dietary recall methods to ascertain nutrient and food intake over time, with the additional problems of incomplete data collection, variable measurements of adherence due to seasonal and geographical differences in food composition, and the changing eating behavior that human beings have over time. The purpose of this document is to carry out an updated and hierarchical review of the relationship between lifestyle and cardiovascular disease based on current evidence, paying attention to three aspects that are of great pathogenic importance and are directly modifiable: physical activity, tobacco consumption, and diet. With this, we intend to update the knowledge on this relationship, construct evidence-based recommendations, and provide a simple tool for clinical practice especially directed to health professionals involved in the care of people at cardiovascular risk, defining simple and easy strategies for individuals who receive advice for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases.