The invention relates to the field of medicine. Provided is a method for the treatment and/or prevention of a cardiovascular event in a patient with atherosclerotic vascular disease comprising administering 0.5 or 0.6 mg of colchicine, a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of colchicine or any combination thereof to a patient once per day, wherein the cardiovascular event is one or more acute coronary syndrome, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest or non-cardio-embolic ischemic stroke. Also provided are a method for the treatment and/or prevention of cholesterol crystal induced inflammation within atherosclerotic plaques in a patient with atherosclerotic vascular disease and a method for the treatment and/or prevention of an atherosclerotic vascular disease in a patient. The methods of the invention provide the successful treatment and prevention of cardiovascular events and other etiologically related disorders using lower dosages of colchicine than administered before.