Opening remarks: The need to manage risk factors of coronary heart disease

This symposium deals with the relationship between smoking and increased risk of cardiovascular disease within a number of perspectives ranging from the biochemical to the epidemiologic. The established major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking, are present, oftenin combination, in populations around the world. These factors have been found to interact in a synergistic manner to increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Traditional antihypertensive treatment offers little protection against coronary heart disease, perhaps because antihypertensive drugs tend to be prescribed to reduce blood pressure without attention being paid to the presence of other risk factors. This symposium should clarify new knowledge on cardiovascular risk factors, thus influencing future therapeutic strategies for hypertension and cardiovascular disease in patients who smoke.