A cardiovascular risk factor is a biological characteristic or either a habit or lifestyle that increases the likelihood of developing or dying from a cardiovascular disease.
The main risk factors may be non-modifiable (age, sex, and genetic factors/family history) or modifiable, and it is precisely the latter which are of greatest interest considering that they can be acted upon in a preventive manner. These are usually classified into major and independent risk factors, as they are the factors most strongly associated with cardiovascular disease: high blood pressure (HBP), smoking, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus (DM), overweight/obesity (particularly abdominal or visceral obesity), and other risk factors, such as low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and high levels of triglycerides.