Guidelines on preventing cardiovascular disease in clinical practice

In the week that the Government launches its National Service Framework for tackling coronary heart disease, the BMJ publishes a series of papers on the assessment of patients' risk of developing heart disease.

In an editorial, Rod Jackson, professor of epidemiology at the University of Auckland's Department of Community Health, supports British clinical guidelines that say priority for treatment should be given to patients at high absolute risk of coronary heart disease, rather than focusing on individual risk factors.

Contact:

Professor Rod Jackson, Department of Community Health, University of Auckland Email: [email protected]