Vascular Risk Reduction | Enhanced Lipid Reporting
Vascular diseases are a leading cause of death and disability in Alberta and in Canada. The goal of VRR is to prevent vascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes through upstream measures, including improved screening, health promotion, risk identification and education.
VRR covers a broad spectrum of projects that identify people at risk of vascular disease (a condition that affects blood vessels) and support enhanced screening, education and management of risk factors in the community.
Long term, Alberta’s VRR program is expected to reduce the incidence of deaths and disability from vascular disease, cancer and many other chronic diseases, through a more coordinated approach to identifying and managing vascular risk factors.
Progress to date:
Early work on VRR included 6 signature projects (ASaP, RxEACH, worksite, knowledge translation, ACTION Network, integrated approaches, and enhanced lipid reporting), which have been implemented in phases across Alberta.
For more on VRR 1.0, see the Overview and Presentation.
This project aims to prevent cardiovascular events and reduce the risk of Albertans developing cardiovascular disease by identifying and treating high risk individuals using statins. ELR involves using a laboratory-based vascular risk score to indicate the need for family physicians to prescribe a cholesterol-reducing medication in order to reduce a patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease.
This work builds on the success of an ELR project originally piloted in the South Zone. With funding from a Health Innovation, Implementation and Spread (HIIS) grant, the focus now is on scaling-up and spreading a proven innovation across Alberta.
