Residual risk in atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: a clinical overview

Despite contemporary, guideline-directed management of traditional risk factors, patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease remain at risk of ischaemic events both in the short and long term. This phenomenon, referred to as ‘residual cardiovascular risk’, is multifactorial, involving cardiometabolic, lipid, inflammatory and thrombotic pathways. In clinical practice, mitigation of this risk requires a proactive, biomarker-informed approach to guide the use of targeted adjunctive therapies according to the individual patient’s risk profile.