The "Report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults"1 was received by most internists with great interest. The panel was charged with the task of developing definitive guidelines helpful to physicians in the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of elevated blood cholesterol levels.2
The two strategies used in preventive medicine for controlling an epidemic are (1) the medical or case-finding approach, which has been used successfully in the approach to syphilis, hypertension, and diabetes, and (2) the public health or mass intervention approach, which has been most successful in combating infectious diseases by vaccination, tooth decay by water fluoridation, and nutritional deficiency disease by food fortification. Both approaches have been advocated for the control of coronary heart disease (CHD). The charge to the Expert Panel on the diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of elevated blood cholesterol levels, however,