The International Cardiovascular and Metabolic Academy Symposium. Foreword.

摘要

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Subjects at high risk for developing cardiovascular complications often present with a variety of risk factors and disorders, such as hypertension, dysli-pidemia, diabetes or glucose intolerance, and obesity. They all share similar pathophysiological mechanisms contributing to the atherosclerotic process, leading to the formation, development and rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque. The renin-angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) plays a central role in the modulation of this process and its pharmacological antagonism is, without any doubt, one of the most important contributions by pharmacology to the prevention of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.