Although the cardiovascular disease mortality rates in Brazil still reach high numbers, they have decreased significantly in recent years. In the early 1990s, the country presented approximately 350 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants per year, and the most recently published rates were reduced to just over 200 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants. Mortality rates due to coronary artery disease are higher in men: between 1990 and 2017, the annual mortality rate due to coronary artery disease was approximately 100 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) went from more than 6000 years per 100 000 inhabitants in the 1990s to just over 4000 years per 100 000 inhabitants in the past decade.

Strategies for measuring cardiovascular risk have changed clinical practice by promoting effective preventive measures that reduce the occurrence of major cardiovascular events and improve quality of life. Among them, the most commonly used are simple clinical criteria, clinical prediction scores, imaging examinations, and biomarkers. The clinical application of a cardiovascular risk score should be assessed for its ability to affect the therapeutic management and prognosis of individuals. A risk prediction model must be evaluated in several subsequent phases, such as the initial concept, its prospective validation in independent populations, the incremental information provided in relation to the currently available models, the confirmation of its effects in modifying the clinical conduct and prognosis of patients, and its cost-effectiveness.

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