Risk assessment and preventative treatment of individuals without cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide. Primary prevention focusses on individuals without known cardiovascular disease to prevent a first cardiovascular event through life style changes such as increasing physical activity, smoking cessation or reducing alcohol consumption or through medications like cholesterol-lowering drugs. However, in Scotland, trends in risk assessment and preventive medication prescription in individuals without established cardiovascular disease remain unclear. It is also unknown whether there are inequalities or differences between important subgroups, such as women and men or younger and older individuals. More insight on the risk assessment and management of therapy in primary prevention of cardiovascular disease in current practice is important to identify the gaps and where we can improve the adoption of preventative medication therapy to improve outcomes. In this study we aim to conduct an evaluation on trends and assess whether there are inequalities or differences in risk assessment, treatment and outcomes of individuals without cardiovascular disease by sex, age, ethnicity, severe mental illness, and deprivation status, while also exploring the feasibility of the novel federated data access approach.