Malalties cardiovasculars. Aterosclerosi i trombosi

Cardiovascular disease. Atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Although our understanding on the ethiopathogenesis of atherothrombosis and of new
treatments for the prevention of ischemic cardiovascular events has significantly improved
in the last years, it is foreseen that the socioeconomic impact of cardiovascular
disease will keep growing in the near future. In fact, coronary disease will become the
first cause of death in the world by 2020. The main reasons for this increased in preval -
ence of the disease reside in the progressive aging of the population, the rise in certain
risk factors (such as diabetes and obesity), especially among the young, and the effects
that still unidentified cellular, molecular, genetic and environmental factors may have.
Given the complexity and the numerous processes that intervene in this disease, as revised
in this article, one sole therapy aimed at its prevention and/or healing does not exist.
However, without a doubt, the implementation of healthy lifestyle habits and education,
targeting children and adolescents, will procure a decrease in the morbidity and
mortality associated to cardiovascular disease.