Community education for cardiovascular disease prevention: risk factor changes in the Minnesota Heart Health Program.
OBJECTIVE
The Minnesota Heart Health Program is a 13-year research and demonstration project to reduce morbidity and mortality from coronary heart disease in whole communities.


METHODS
Three pairs of communities were matched on size and type; each pair had one education site and one comparison site. After baseline surveys, a 5- to 6-year program of mass media, community organization, and direct education for risk reduction was begun in the education communities, whereas surveys continued in all sites.


RESULTS
Many intervention components proved effective in targeted groups. However, against a background of strong secular trends of increasing health promotion and declining risk factors, the overall program effects were modest in size and duration and generally within chance levels.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggest that even such an intense program may not be able to generate enough additional exposure to risk reduction messages and activities in a large enough fraction of the population to accelerate the remarkably favorable secular trends in health promotion activities and in most coronary heart disease risk factors present in the study communities.
Luepker
R V
RV
Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis 55455-1015.
Murray
D M
DM
Jacobs
D R
DR
Mittelmark
M B
MB
Bracht
N
N
Carlaw
R
R
Crow
R
R
Elmer
P
P
Finnegan
J
J
Folsom
A R
AR
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008910:Minnesota; D012307:Risk Factors; D000074606:Smoking Prevention
D002784:Cholesterol