Tackling the growing global burden of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases.

Introduction For most populations in the world, the last 100 years has witnessed greater improvements in health status, compared to any other time in history. Globally, life expectancy increased by about 25 years during the twentieth century, with a greater than 50% increase in longevity for most populations. These improvements in health are likely a result of both improvements in disease prevention and healthcare (leading to a marked reduction in childhood mortality and deaths from infectious diseases), as well as improvement in socio-economic conditions in most societies [1]. During this period, the major causes of death and disability have shifted from a predominance of nutritional deficiencies and infectious diseases, to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers and diabetes [2,3]. The pace and timing of this epidemiological transition is not uniform and varies both across and even within specific countries and regions. The transition occurs not only between disease categories (e.g., infectious diseases giving way to cardiovascular diseases), but also within a broad disease category (e.g., among cardiovascular diseases, rheumatic heart disease of the young has been replaced in most regions by coronary artery disease or strokes in middle and old age) [2].