Editor
Arnold von Eckardstein

2005

Cardiovascular diseases continue to be the leading cause of death in the majority of industrialized countries. The most frequent underlying pathology, namely atherosclerosis, and its clinical sequelae, namely coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease and peripheral artery disease, remain common although for a long time we have been made aware of avoidable or modifiable etiological factors such as smoking, fat-rich diet or lack of exercise, and although these adverse lifestyle factors have been extensively addressed by population-wide primary prevention programs.