View source for Historical timeline: 1969-2004

'''1969''' ''USA'' First use of artificial heart in human by Denton Cooley.

'''1972''' ''USA'' The Stanford Three Community Study started (later becoming The Stanford Five-City Project); this showed a 23% reduction in coronary heart disease risk caused by community-based interventions that change lifestylerelated risk factors such as physical activity, dietary habits and tobacco use.

'''1972''' ''Finland'' North Karelia Project began, aimed at preventing cardiovascular disease among residents. Cardiovascular mortality rates for men, aged between 35 and 64 years, decreased by 57% from 1970 to 1992.  

'''1974''' ''Framingham, USA'' Diabetes linked to cardiovascular disease. 1970s Aspirin recognized as preventing heart attacks and stroke.

'''1970s''' Development of computerized tomography (CT) to aid early diagnosis of stroke. 

'''1977''' ''Switzerland'' First coronary PTCA (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty); Andreas Gruentzig inserted a balloon-tipped catheter into a coronary artery and inflated the balloon, and thus successfully opened a blockage and restored blood flow.

'''1977''' ''Italy'' The Martignacco Project community prevention trial resulted in reduction of coronary heart disease through communitybased interventions that change lifestyle-related risk factors such as physical activity, dietary habits and tobacco use.

'''1977''' ''Framingham, USA'' Effects described of triglycerides and LDL- and HDL- cholesterol on heart disease.

'''1978''' ''Framingham, USA'' Psychosocial factors found to affect heart disease.

'''1978''' ''Australia'' North Coast Healthy Lifestyle Programme showed significant reduction in smoking.

'''1978''' ''Switzerland'' Swiss National Research Programme community prevention trial resulted in reduction of smoking, blood pressure and obesity.

'''1978''' Atrial fibrillation (irregular heart beat) found to increase the risk of stroke.

'''1979''' ''South Africa'' Coronary Risk Factor Study community prevention trial resulted in reduction of smoking, blood pressure and composite coronary heart disease risks.

'''1979''' ''Germany'' First use by Peter Rentrop of intracoronary streptokinase, a clot-dissolving drug to stop a heart attack in progress.

'''1981''' ''Framingham, USA'' Filter cigarettes found to carry as much risk for coronary heart disease as unfiltered cigarettes. 1981 USA Report on relationship between diet and heart disease.

'''1982''' ''USA'' First permanent artificial heart, designed by Robert Jarvik, and implanted by Willem DeVries, in a 61-year-old man.

'''1983''' ''USA'' List of 246 coronary risk factors published by Hopkins and Williams (list now much longer).

'''1980s''' Minimization of random error for the reliable assessment of cardiovascular treatments by introduction of large-scale "megatrials" (at instigation of Sir Richard Peto).

'''1986''' ''France'' First coronary stent implanted by Jacques Puel and Ulrich Sigwart.

'''1987''' ''Japan'' M. Okada used a laser to burn channels in the heart muscle to help revascularize the heart in patients with coronary heart disease.

'''1987''' ''Framingham, USA'' High blood cholesterol levels found to correlate directly with risk of death in young men.

'''1988''' ''Framingham, USA'' High levels of HDL-cholesterol found to reduce risk of death.

1988 ISIS-2 trial 
shows 
emergency 
treatment for 
heart attacks 
with aspirin and 
fibrinolytic "clot- 
busting" drugs 
saves lives.

1988 Framingham, USA Isolated 
systolic hypertension found to 
increase risk of heart disease.

1988 Framingham, USA Cigarette 
smoking found to increase risk of 
stroke.

1990 Randomized trials showed 
that lowering blood pressure 
lowers the risk of stroke.

1990 United Kingdom Meta-analysis 
of trials by Clinical Trial Service 
Unit (CTSU) in Oxford showed 
that lowering blood pressure 
lowers the risk of coronary disease.

1991 China Tianjin CVD 
Intervention Programme 
community prevention trial led to 
the creation of non-smoking 
environments and increased sales 
of low-sodium seasonings.

1992 Canada The Victoria 
Declaration on Heart Health 
affirmed that CVD is largely 
preventable, that there is the 
scientific knowledge to eliminate 
most CVD, and that the public 
health infrastructure and capacity 
to address prevention were 
lacking.

1990s USA Hostility (including 
traits such as anger, cynicism, and 
mistrust), a major component of 
type A behaviour, shown to be 
associated with an increased risk of 
heart attack and other cardiac 
complications in healthy persons 
and patients with coronary heart 
disease.

1992 China First heart-lung 
transplant in China.

mid-1990s Scandinavia, United 
Kingdom, USA Remarkable 
improvement in survival of 
coronary heart disease patients 
treated with statins.

1995 Spain The Catalonia 
Declaration: Investing in Heart 
Health, and its follow-up 
convention in 1997, emphasized 
the importance of investments in 
heart health and provided examples 
of many successful CVD prevention 
programmes worldwide. 

1998 USA Hypertension gene in 
men identified.

1998 New advances:
gene therapy grows new blood 
vessels to the heart; strong 
confirmation that "superaspirin"
IIb/IIIa receptor blocker drugs 
prevent blood clots; the 
importance of inflammation in 
cardiovascular disease recognized; 
study on the deadly effects of 
smoking fewer than 10 cigarettes
per day.

1998 Singapore The Singapore 
Declaration: Forging the Will for 
Heart Health in the Next 
Millennium.

'''2000''' ''Canada'' The Victoria Declaration on Women, Heart Disease and Stroke addressed the importance of science and policy in action and the need to tackle gender disparities in health. It called upon all stakeholders to join forces and take appropriate action to control the cardiovascular disease epidemic.

'''2000''' First World Heart Day, which has become a global annual event. 

'''2000''' The entire human genome is mapped. 

'''2000''' WHO 53rd World Health Assembly endorsed Global strategy for noncommunicable disease (NCD) prevention and control, which outlines major objectives for monitoring, preventing and managing NCDs with special emphasis on major NCDs with common risk factors and determinants – cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease.

'''2001''' ''Japan'' The Osaka Declaration: Health, Economics and Political Action: Stemming the Global Tide of Cardiovascular Disease emphasized the global nature of the CVD burden and highlighted the need to address economic and political factors in order to tackle CVD.

'''2002''' ''United Kingdom'' The Heart Protection Study showed that statins could benefit people with diabetes and those with cholesterol levels previously considered low.

'''2002''' ''USA'' NASA’s Commercial Invention of the Year Award given for the DeBakey Ventricular Assist Device, based on space shuttle technology, and developed by Michael DeBakey and NASA engineer David Saucier. The pump, used to treat heart failure, was one-tenth the size of previous heart-assist devices, and was first used in a patient in 2000.

'''2003''' ''Switzerland'' WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control adopted at the 56th World Health Assembly.

'''2003''' ''Switzerland'' The World Health Report: "Shaping the Future" highlighted CVD as the first of three growing threats that make up the "neglected global epidemics". The report called for action at the national and global levels to prevent and control CVD.

'''2004''' ''Switzerland'' WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health endorsed by World Health Assembly.

'''2004''' ''Italy'' Milan Declaration on Heart Health: Positioning Technology to serve Global Heart Health.