ABSTRACT
In most industrialized societies, including the United States, cardiovascular-related diseases are the chief cause of death. More than one half of all deaths in any given year in the United States is associated with heart and vascular diseases; in 1985, the mortality figure was approximately 1 million. The economic impact is staggering, estimated at $100 billion a year. The social costs and psychological suffering caused by both lethal and nonlethal manifestations of heart and blood vessel diseases are beyond comprehension. All the latter continues to occur despite the 20-year decline in death due to cardiovascular diseases (Havlek & Feinleib, 1979).
