Cardiovascular Disease

ardiovascular disease, including stroke, is the leading cause of illness and death in the United States. There are an estimated 62 million people with cardiovascular disease and 50 million people with hypertension in this country. 1 In 2000, approximately 946,000 deaths were attributable to cardiovascular disease, accounting for 39 percent of all deaths in the United States. 2 Epidemiologic studies and randomized clinical trials have provided compelling evidence that coronary heart disease is largely preventable. 3 However, there is also reason to believe that there is a heritable component to the disease. In this review, I highlight what we know now about genetic factors in cardiovascular disease. As future genomic discoveries are translated to the care of patients with cardiovascular disease, it is likely that what we can do will change. c lessons learned from monogenic cardiovascular disorders