Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of death in both men and women in most industrialized countries. Yet it is largely preventable, and health care providers can acquire the skills to help their patients reduce their risks substantially. Traditional risk factors such as cigarette smoking, hypercholesterolimia, hypertension, sedentary lifestyle, obesity and glucose intolerance explain a major proportion of coronary events. Recent evidence also suggests important adjunctive roles for hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal women, and aspirin prophlaxis in individuals at high risk of a first myocardial infarction. Emerging evidence indicates an important role for diet in the prevention of heart disease. Although the importance of lifestyle and behavioral modifications may well be known among physicians and other health-care providers, the implementation of this knowledge has been limited. One reason is that the information supporting the value, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of risk-reduction strategies has not been previously synthesized and made widely available to health-care providers in office and community settings.
Prevention of Myocardial Infarction fills these critical gaps by providing a state-of-the-art compendium of the scientific evidence on the efficacy of coronary disease prevention, while focusing on helping clinicians develop intervention skills to utilize available knowledge. Chapters by leading authorities in cardiovascular epidemiology, clinical cardiology, cost-effectiveness analysis, and public health translate the theory of preventive cardiology into feasible implementation. The counseling and other intervention strategies described in thistextbook have documented clinical efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and they require little time to learn or implement. The book is written mainly for primary care providers, including general internists and family physicians, but will also be of interest to medical subspecialties such as cardiologists and endocrinologists, as well as medical students, dietitians, psychologists, epidemiologists, and students, practitioners, and researchers in public health.

Since 1976, the world-famous Harvard Medical School Nurses' Health Study has followed more than 120,000 real women, leading real lives, to discover what factors contribute to improving the health of women. The most important findings are made accessible to the general public in this easy-to-understand book that will revolutionize the way women live.

Healthy Women, Healthy Lives goes beyond simply labeling preventive measures and risky behavior -- it provides practical tips and strategies from clinical experts at Harvard Medical School for making healthy lifestyle changes. Here are the best ways to lower the risk of a host of chronic diseases, as well as tips for losing weight, stopping smoking, eating healthily, and exercising regularly. With easy-to-read graphs that clarify complex information and personal stories from nurses who have contributed to the remarkable study, Healthy Women, Healthy Lives is an extraordinary health book that will prove invaluable to women everywhere.