The latest recommendations about the management of cardiovascular risk factors take into account not only the level of risk factor but also the global risk profile of the patient. The reference for the calculated estimation of absolute cardiovascular risk remains the Framingham equation. Nevertheless, this estimation has a number of operational and conceptual limitations such as geographical and historical validity and its application to individual cases. Different results in the medical literature suggest that parameters of arterial structure or function measured simply, such as arterial rigidity, could be closely related to the level of individual cardiovascular risk by the integration of the deleterious effects of different vascular risk factors over decades of exposition. They could then be better predict cardiovascular effects than the result of a mathematical equation which only integrates some of the risk factors at a given point in time. These simple, rapid and non-invasive measurements could help identify subjects at high cardiovascular risk and also help the clinician in the orientation of preventive measures in subjects with cardiovascular risk factors.