Abstract:
We face an increasing global burden of cardiovas-
cular disease, principally due to a sharp rise in devel-
oping countries experiencing health transitions.
Though it has long been known that hypertension,
cigarette smoking, hypercholesterolemia, and dia-
betes are important cardiovascular risk factors, it is
now increasingly appreciated that environmental
factors such as fine-particulate air pollution represent
a serious public health threat. As noted by Rajagopo-
lan and Brook [1] in this issue, household air pollu-
tion from use of coal and biomass for cooking
and space heating may well have a substantial, and
potentially reversible, cardiovascular impact. Rajago-
polan and Brook call for a concerted research
program to estimate the impact and to develop and
test interventions. They correctly note that there is
a need to balance the cost of research with the neces-
sity of additional information. Further, they identify
5 focus areas, including exposure assessment, biolog-
ical mechanisms, epidemiology, candidate interven-
tions, and cost-effectiveness. They argue that
multidisciplinary teams are best equipped to tackle
this complex
