[Prevention of myocardial infarct?].

Myocardial infarction remains one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in spite of the medical and surgical therapy currently available. Only the prevention of coronary atherosclerosis seems likely to modify this situation. Epidemiological studies have established hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and cigarette smoking, among others, as risk factors. Based on these findings, it was hypothesized that control of these factors might diminish the risk. This hypothesis has been tested in man repeatedly over the past twenty years. Except as regards cigarette smoking, the results of the studies are ambiguous. Before advising the general public on measures of prevention, more data on the etiology of atherosclerosis are needed.