[Preventive cardiology and cardiac rehabilitation].

The Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation Section of the Spanish Society of Cardiology provides the principal national reference point for scientific knowledge about cardiovascular risk factors in the Spanish population, about the incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease in Spain, and about disease prevention and the use of cardiac rehabilitation to improve the quality of life and prolong the survival of individuals already affected by the disease. By necessity, research into cardiovascular prevention involves sponsoring the implementation of studies into cardiovascular risk factors and disease occurrence. The MESYAS study is a good example. It is the fruit of the combined efforts of members of the metabolic syndrome working group belonging to our Section of the Spanish Society of Cardiology and its aim was to answer a number of unresolved questions that had arisen about the incidence, prevalence and consequences of cardiovascular disease in the Spanish population. Today, after this cohort has been followed up for more than 5 years, the first analysis of the cardiovascular events that occurred in the cohort and their relationship with individual risk factors observed many years previously has become available. Here, the metabolic syndrome working group reports some interesting findings. With the aim of communicating up-to-date information that has undergone expert review, the coordinator of the cardiac rehabilitation working group has the responsibility of summarizing, evaluating and updating the scientific data available on the important subject of the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.