Prediction and Prognostication in Coronary Heart Disease

The physician is frequently asked these simple and seemingly innocuous questions: “Does emotional stress bring on heart attacks?” “Is coffee drinking bad for you?” “Is exercise good for you?” “Which coronary risk factor is the most important?” Such cocktail-hour questions from patients, colleagues and friends are among the more difficult in medicine to answer with assurance. Approaches to the scientific study of questions about coronary risk are illustrated in two articles contained in this issue, one by Friedman and his co-authors on the total leukocyte count, and one by Jenkins et al. about answers to a behavioral questionnaire, both in….