**2. Cardiovascular risk biomarkers**

Several genetic and environmental factors have been shown to play a significant role in the progression of CVDs [11, 12]. Moreover, there is a close interlink between CVD and obesity, dyslipidaemia, oxidative stress, inflammation and hypertension to mention a few. Each of these biomarkers have mechanisms and pathways that have been reported to directly or indirectly lead to CVD [13]. Every population has distinct genetic and ethnic dynamics that contributes to the CVR of the population [14, 15]. CVDs are the foremost causes of death worldwide [1], with low and middle income countries currently experiencing the highest prevalence and mortality rates [16]. For this reason, recent data suggests that population-based CVR profiling is necessary for successful risk determination, disease prevention and treatment [1, 14, 15]. The Multinational Monitoring of Trends and Determinants in Cardiovascular Disease (MONICA) by WHO [17] and the MORGAM (Monica Risk, Genetics, Archiving and Monograph) [18] Project defined a wide range of biomarkers for CVR. These different classifications [19] are summarised in **Table 1**.




#### **Table 1.**

*Classification of CVD risk biomarkers.*
