Lifestyle and Primordial Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: Challenges and Opportunities

The goal of primordial prevention is to prevent the risk factors which lead to disease. Successful implementation of primordial prevention in the context of chronic disease requires that healthy behaviors become normative. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its associated risk factors are generally preventable. Specifically, the attainment of ideal levels of four lifestyle factors (non-smoking, normal weight, physical activity, and healthy diet) results in lower CVD morbidity and mortality, as well as related biological risk factors (hypertension, elevated blood glucose, and hypercholesterolemia). Challenges to primordial prevention of CVD include recent adverse trends in lifestyle factors and persisting health disparities. Opportunities exist for public health policy and life course approaches to prevention. Changes in public health policy that successfully target these modifiable lifestyle factors have the potential to not only affect CVD, but other chronic diseases as well.