Cardiovascular absolute risk assessment and management - engagement and outcomes in general practice patients.

Despite a decline in recent decades, cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the major cause of death and disability in Australia. To improve primary prevention of CVD, many clinical guidelines recommend using cardiovascular absolute risk (CVAR) assessment to guide risk factor management. Cardiovascular absolute risk assessment predicts the overall risk of a cardiovascular event over a given time period (usually 5 or 10 years). However, use of CVAR is limited and has not been incorporated well in routine general practice. There has been little research on CVAR implementation and an effective implementation strategy has been lacking.