Understanding the New Prevention Guidelines

The newest heart disease and stroke prevention guidelines for doctors urge them to help you avoid heart disease and stroke by prescribing drugs called statins for some of you, treating obesity as a disease, and giving you other resources to stay healthy.

So what does that mean for you? Should you change your medications? Should you see a doctor for obesity treatment? How do you know if you’re healthy? These are among the questions you’ll find answers to here in the Guideline Resource Center.

The new guidelines focus on the very important areas of:

• Cholesterol
• Lifestyle
• Obesity
• Risk assessment

The cardiovascular prevention guidelines were released in November 2013 by the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology. These guidelines are basically recommendations for healthcare providers across the nation, created through years of scientific research.

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