Prevention of cardiovascular disease: from biomedical research to health policy.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the leading cause of premature death and disability in the developed world. Broad consensus exists on CVD preventability through reduction of their risk factors at both the individual and population level. The latter kind of intervention implies involvement of policy-making institutions, owing to the manifold implications (agriculture, industry, environment) of such programmes. They have to be developed through three phases in succession: observational studies; intervention trials; public health action programmes. The implementation of the latter can only result from merging of biomedicine and politics and must rest on sound scientific-ethical bases. Other important issues are cost effectiveness, resort to mass media, transfer to other communities, funding and institutionalization. As a practical example of development and implementation of a public health programme, the experience of the ATS-Sardegna Campaign is briefly described.