Community interventions for cardiovascular disease

This article reviews the history of community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) intervention programs, analyzing the reasons for the modest success of many of them, and describes key components of successful programs. The authors note that in multi-intervention programs it is often difficult to determine which components of the intervention were responsible for their overall success. They suggest that a number of components have been successful using varying methods and materials for CVD risk reduction, and make recommendations for the development of future programs. They conclude that the community-based approach to CVD prevention can be generally applied, is cost-effective (due to the use of mass communication methods), and has the potential for modifying the environment and influencing health policies.