Abstract
Preventive cardiology as a full-fledged subspecialty emerged in the 1960s and has became one of the most important parts of cardiology. The term cardiovascular disease (CVD) covers not only coronary heart disease (CHD) but, also, other manifest complications of atherosclerosis such as carotid artery stenosis, ischemic stroke, peripheral artery disease, and other conditions.
Cardiovascular disease represents a biggest non-infectious epidemy and main cause of death worldwide. In the article, the world CHD epidemiolology and the short history of the Czech preventive cardiology are described.
The international MONICA (Multinational MONItoring of trends and determinants in CArdiovascular disease) project continuing as the Czech post-MONICA study are mentioned. Those studies have provided crucial data about the current prevalence of risk factors and CVD markers, and long-term trends in mortality assessed in a representative sample of the Czech population.