Cardiovascular risk factors: multiple interventions in man.

Cardiovascular disease, especially coronary heart disease, is multifactoral. Therefore, it is reasonable to use multiple interventions to try to obtain the greatest reduction in risk. This has been attempted in several controlled clinical trials and in two community educational trials. The results have been variable, showing either benefit or a favorable trend with no statistically significance change. Although the benefit of multiple intervention has not been conclusively demonstrated, there has been a downward trend in cardiovascular mortality in many countries which parallels a downward trend in the level of cardiovascular risk, supporting the concept of benefit from multiple intervention.