Pharmacist-led interventions to promote cardiovascular health: A review of studies from Portugal

Abstract This chapter provides an overview of pharmacy practice interventions delivered or led by pharmacists in community pharmacy, residential care, in hospital, and in social care, that focus on prevention and control of cardiovascular ill-health risk factors and on the management of well-established cerebral and cardiovascular conditions. These interventions range from the early detention of at-risk individuals through opportunistic screenings, mainly resorting to point-of-care testing followed by onward referral, when applicable, to interventions particularly targeted at addressing the major cardiovascular risk factors, to the identification of poorly controlled aggravating factors and conditions, and ultimately to medicines optimization, aiming at achieving highest treatment effectiveness and safety, while reducing costs for the person living with illness and for society as a whole.