260 MED ARH 2010; 64(5) • EDITORIAL Trends in Cardiovascular Diseases in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Perspectives with HeartScore Programme EDITORIAL Trends in Cardiovascular Diseases in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Perspectives with HeartScore Programme Izet Masic 1 , Mirza Dilic 2 , Enver Raljevic 3 , Dusko Vulic 4 , Dario Mott 5 Academy of Medical Sciences of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo,B&H 1 , Institute of Vascular Diseases, Clinical Center University of Sarajevo, B&H 2 , Association of Cardiologists of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo,B&H 3 , Centar for Medical Research, Banja Luka–RS 4 , Department of Cardiology, Cantonal Hospital Orašje, Bosnia and Herzegovina 5 C ardiovascular diseases are still the major cause of death, morbidity, mortality and loss of quality of life in European countries and world- wide. In Bosnia and Herzegovina we have burden of cardiovascular diseases with higher rate of morbidity and mortality than in the countries of EU zone or broader Europe. he cause of mortality is in close relation to multiple risk factors but also with speciic conditions in our country; post war situation, transition and overall economic position. he main mission of European Society of Cardiology is to improve quality of life in the European population by reducing the impact of cardiovascular diseases. HeartScore® web based program and PS Standalone program are introduce to assesses the overall risk of cardiovascular death for a period of 10 years, based on variables such as age, sex, smoking, systolic blood pressure and cholesterol levels in the blood, or total cholesterol/HDL ratio. Standalone PS HeartScore® is practical to use, requires no permanent internet connection, the system ofers its own database for each patient and the print version of the guidelines to reduce risk factors, based on evidence based medicine Program is tailored to patients, the system provides a graphical representation of the absolute risk of CVD, a version for our country is developed on the principle of high-risk populations and is available in the languages of the peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Program is available for all types of medical practice which is equipped with computers, the laptop, and suitable for community nursing service as well. Key words: cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, Bosnia and Herzegovina, HeartScore® PC Standalone program 1. INTRODUCTION Generally cardiovascular diseases are a major cause of premature death in most European countries, an important cause of disability, and largely contrib- ute to the growing costs of health care. he leading cause of cardiovascu- lar disease is underlying atherosclero- sis, which is deceptive developed over the years and is usually at the time of onset of symptoms have progressed. he development of atherosclerosis is a complex process involving hemody- namic, metabolic and genetic disor- ders. Atherosclerosis is a multifacto- rial disease in which even people who have no risk factors for atherosclerosis at the age of 85 have 60% of coronary ar- terial circulation covered with athero- matous plaques. In the case of smokers, this age limit shifts to 65 years of age, the presence of elevated blood pressure in 52 years, in addition to diabetes the presence of the surface coverage can be achieve already in the 42 years. According to WHO projections for the year 2020, nearly 25 million people worldwide will be victims of one dis- ease from this group, while in the struc- ture of mortality from heart disease and blood vessels, according to WHO esti- mates, ischemic heart disease is pres- ent in an average of 41%, stroke with 32% and other diseases of the heart and blood vessels with 27% (1,2,3,4,5). he basic form of prevention is to re- duce the risk for individuals and pop- ulations because the mass occurrence of cardiovascular disease is in close connection with the changing life and physiological habits. It is clearly shown that changes in risk factors reduce the mortality and morbidity especially in patients with unrecognized or recog- nized cardiovascular disease. he goal of primary prevention is to reduce the incidence of disease, and includes pro- cedures to be implemented in order to avoid disease. here are two approaches in primary prevention: orientation to the general population and orientation to persons at high risk. he risk factors for cardiovascular disease can be divided into preventable, non-preventable, predisposing and con- ditional. he preventable, which rep- resent the main independent factors, include elevated blood pressure, ele- vated cholesterol, elevated blood sugar and smoking. he non-preventable in- cludes age, gender, and family history of