Abstract
In the late 1970s it was realised that more data were needed to explain why death rates were changing than were provided in routine death certificates.3 Validated data from death certificates and complementary data on non-fatal myocardial infarctions, stroke, acute coronary care, and standard risk factors were essential. On the basis of the experience gained from the registers of ischaemic heart disease and stroke of the 1970s,4 the MONICA project was conceived in the early 1980s to MONItor the trends in and determinants of cardiovascular diseases. It was …