Controlling the Impact of Cardiometabolic Risk

Volume 56 - Issue 5 - May 2016

Welcome to this special issue of Consultant dedicated to the management of patients with cardiometabolic risk, which includes obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and hypertension.

Not surprisingly, primary care providers increasingly are being called on to manage the health of patients with this complex, ubiquitous, and potentially lethal combination of risk factors. 

Statistics paint a rather grim picture of the scope of the problem: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 9.3% of the US population has diabetes, representing 29.1 million Americans.1 Approximately 29% of American adults—that’s 70 million people—have hypertension,2 and 34.9%, or 78.6 million US adults, are obese.3

In addition to the incalculable impact on the lives of these people, the cost to the US health care system is enormous. We spend nearly $1 billion each day in medical costs and lost productivity from cardiovascular disease and stroke alone!4 What’s more, by 2030, the CDC estimates that the annual direct medical costs associated with cardiovascular diseases will have risen to more than $818 billion, while lost productivity costs could exceed $275 billion.4

That’s why we at Consultant find it so important to cover cardiometabolic risk in virtually every monthly print issue of the journal, in showcase special issues of Consultant like this one, and at our website, Consultant360.com.

In addition to this steady diet of information, each year Consultant also offers two top-notch conferences on the topic: the Primary Care Cardiometabolic Risk Summit (CRS) Spring in New Orleans, and CRS Fall in Las Vegas. Having recently attended CRS Spring, I can personally attest to how valuable an educational forum the summit represents, and I invite you to join me in Las Vegas from October 14-16, for CRS Fall. For more information and to register, see the information elsewhere in this issue, or navigate to www.primarycarecardiometabolic.com.

For much more on managing cardiometabolic risk from Consultant, I invite you to visit the Cardiometabolic Risk Medical Resource Center at Consultant360.com/topic/cardiometabolic-risk. Enjoy this special supplement to Consultant. Thanks for reading.

Michael Gerchufsky, ELS, CMPP
Managing Editor, Consultant

References:

  1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Diabetes Statistics Report: Estimates of Diabetes and Its Burden in the United States, 2014. Atlanta, GA: US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2014.
  2. Nwankwo T, Yoon SS, Burt V, Gu Q. Hypertension among adults in the US: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2012. NCHS Data Brief No. 133. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, US Dept of Health and Human Services; 2013.
  3. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA. 2014;311(8):806-814.
  4. CDC Foundation. Heart disease and stroke cost American nearly $1 billion a day in medical costs, lost productivity. http://www.cdcfoundation.org/pr/2015/heart-disease-and-stroke-cost-america-nearly-1-billion-day-medical-costs-lost-productivity. Published April 29, 2015. Accessed April 28, 2016.