[The epidemiology and risk factors of ischemic cardiopathy]

The prevention of cardiovascular diseases has been considered the first cause in diminishing coronary heart disease mortality. The main objective is the control of risk factors in primary as well as in secondary prevention. The correlation between diet rich in saturated fat and plasma cholesterol was the first milestone in this field followed by the improvement in cholesterol levels and subsequently in CHD mortality. Smoking cessation, physical exercise and control of blood pressure have shown to be efficacious. May be that Syndrome X that corresponds to insulin resistance, central obesity and low levels of HDL among other characteristics, reaches in the future a greater importance in CVD epidemiology. Other risk factors like those of psychosocial origin, thrombogenesis or hormones need more research in order to know their actual importance.