Five major community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programs in Finland and the US aim to reduce disease incidence by targeting risk factors across whole communities.
Major community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programs have been conducted in North Karelia, Finland; the state of Minnesota; Pawtucket, Rhode Island; and in three communities and more recently in five cities near Stanford, California. These primary prevention programs aim to reduce cardiovascular disease incidence by reducing risk factors in whole communities. These risk factors are smoking, high blood cholesterol, diet high in cholesterol and saturated fat, hypertension, sedentary lifestyle, and obesity. This strategy may be contrasted with secondary prevention programs directed at patients who already have symptomatic cardiovascular disease and "high risk" primary prevention programs directed at individuals found through screening to have one or more risk factors. The design of the five major programs is similar in that intervention communities are matched for purposes of evaluation with nearby comparison communities. Underlying these programs are theories of community health education, social learning, communication, social marketing, and community activation, as well as more traditional biomedical and public health disciplines. This is Part I of a two-part article.
Shea et al. (Mon,) conducted a review in Cardiovascular disease. Community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programs vs. Nearby comparison communities was evaluated on Cardiovascular disease incidence and risk factors. Five major community-based cardiovascular disease prevention programs in Finland and the US aim to reduce disease incidence by targeting risk factors across whole communities.