Public education about the Framingham heart study

Attempts to reach all ages

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) was instrumental in spreading the new knowledge. The institute launched the National High Blood Pressure Education Program in 1972 and the National Cholesterol Education Program in 1985. Today most Americans are well aware of the dangers of hypertension and cholesterol. Many choose to exercise regularly and eat right.

Recent studies have shown that lifestyle habits are shaped during childhood and that atherosclerosis and hypertension can start in the early teens. That's why NHLBI directs some of its education efforts at young people.

Work still to be done

The death rate due to heart attacks is half what it was 50 years ago. Yet coronary heart disease is still responsible for one out of five deaths in this country. Eighty percent of people with hypertension remain undiagnosed or untreated. And many with high cholesterol don't get treatment either.

"We could probably prevent more than half of all heart attacks in a short amount of time if we did a good job of controlling the risk factors we know about," said William B. Castelli, medical director of the Framingham Cardiovascular Institute, and former director of the Framingham Heart Study.