Coronary heart disease is a multifactorial disease
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death in the Western World. For effective treatment and prevention strategies to be put in place, the major risk factors associated with this disease must be identified. Data show that almost 300 variables are statistically associated with CHD. However, evidence suggests that the vast majority of coronary events can be explained on the basis of blood pressure, lipids, smoking, and diabetes. Laboratory, experimental, and epidemiologic data identify dyslipidemia as a pivotal CHD risk factor, in the absence of which other risk factors cease to produce any important increase in absolute risk of events. For example, in populations with relatively low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, such as China and Japan, the incidence of CHD remains low even when smoking and hypertension are highly prevalent.