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(Circulation. 2004;109:3062-3063.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorial

The Benefit of Prevention

Engaging the Public Through Strategic Collaborations

Augustus O. Grant, MD, PhD; Alice K. Jacobs, MD

Dr Grant is President of the American Heart Association and Professor of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine. Dr Jacobs is President-Elect of the American Heart Association and Professor of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine.

Key Words: Focused Perspectives • cardiovascular diseases • diabetes • cancer

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

In this issue of Circulation, we have published an historic document, a joint scientific statement on prevention from the American Heart Association (AHA), the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the American Diabetes Association (ADA). In this statement, we and our colleagues from the ACS and ADA describe the science underlying the important benefits that the public would derive if the preventive lifestyle changes and therapeutic maneuvers currently in our armamentarium were fully employed. In addition, we define an appropriate schedule for preventive screenings that have been demonstrated to be cost-effective and should be made available to all. But perhaps the most important contribution of this statement is also the reason this article is being published concurrently in the journals of the ACS and the ADA—namely, the concept that 4 basic strategies can provide protection against the 4 major causes of death in the United States: heart disease, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. Although the public often expresses confusion about the many health messages that are now available to them, especially when they try to take multiple health risks into consideration, in fact individuals can best protect themselves by following advice that is simple, effective, and agreed upon by the 3 major voluntary health organizations. The 4 key strategies are as follows: (1) Don’t smoke, (2) follow a healthy diet, (3) be physically active, and (4) see your medical caregiver regularly to assess your risk and prevent disease or catch it early, when it can be best managed.

See p 3244

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