Toward a Cardio-Environmental Risk Model: Environmental Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

It is increasingly recognized that strong geographic variations in cardiovascular risk cannot be explained using traditional cardiovascular risk factors alone. Indeed, it is highly unlikely that heredity and classic risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and tobacco use can explain the tenfold variation observed in cardiovascular mortality among men in Russia and those in Switzerland. Since the advent of industrialization and resultant changes to our climate, it is now clear that environmental stressors also influence cardiovascular health and our thinking around cardiovascular risk prediction is in need of a paradigm shift. Herein, we review the basis for this shift in our understanding of the interplay of environmental factors with cardiovascular health. We illustrate how air pollution, hyperprocessed foods, the amount of green space, and population activity levels are now considered the 4 major environmental determinants of cardiovascular health and provide a framework for how these considerations might be incorporated into clinical risk assessment. We also outline the clinical and socioeconomic effects of the environment on cardiovascular health and review key recommendations from major medical societies.