TOP STORY >>Cardiovascular Risk Assessment, Management Project available now

By Maj. Ella Colvin
314th Medical Group Health Care Integrator

If we were given the option to take steps that would enhance our daily and future lives, the majority of us would not hesitate to do so. It is estimated that one in three adults have some form of cardiovascular disease, a class of diseases that involves the heart and/or blood vessels (arteries and veins).

The lifetime risk for CVD is two in three for men and more than one in two for women at age 40.

Since 1900, CVD has been the number one killer in the United States every year but 1918. Nearly 2,500 Americans die of CVD each day, an average of one death every 35 seconds.

CVD claims more lives each year than the next four leading causes of death combined (cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, and diabetes mellitus).

The estimated direct and indirect cost of CVD for 2006 is $403 billion.

In an effort to improve the early identification, care prioritization, and management of Air Force personnel with elevated, but modifiable risk factors for developing Coronary Heart Disease, a narrowing of the small blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the heart, the Cardiovascular Risk Assessment and Management Project was designed.

By calculating certain risk factors using a tool called the Framingham Risk Score, a person’s likelihood of developing CHD within the next 10 years can be determined (assuming the risk factors remain the same).

Risk factors are conditions or habits that increase your chances of getting heart disease. Some factors, like family history and advancing age, can not be controlled.

Most of you can do something about these items; smoking, high pressure, high blood cholesterol, overweight/obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, and diabetes.

Risk factors included in the CRAM Project calculations are blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL (good cholesterol), LDL (bad cholesterol), whether a patient has Diabetes Mellitus and whether a patient smokes lit tobacco products.

This data is useful to primary care managers and aerospace teams as it assists with devising programs and or treatment plans that keep our Airman “fit and ready.”

This data is also a useful supplement to the USAF Fitness Program when assessing cardiovascular status. The 314th MDG has about 35 Airmen who are in the moderate to high risk category for developing CHD. With continued education, medical intervention, involvement in physical and nutritional programs, the possibility of lowering that risk is great.

Everyone is encouraged to contact their primary care manager and the Health and Wellness Center to take advantage of the programs being offered to enhance our daily and future lives.

The Air Force Medical Service’s greatest challenges are providing a healthy, “fit and ready” force and improving the health status of our enrolled population.

The CRAM project is just one avenue that is available for assessing the status of our active duty population. An assessment will be completed on each person during their annual preventative health assessment.