The epidemic of heart disease in Russia, for men and women alike, is higher than the death rate in the U.S. for all causes combined. In Europe and America, cardiovascular mortality reached a high in the late 1950s and 1960s, and subsequently declined, while in Russia, high rates have continued to climb. Even Russia’s female CVD mortality rate was roughly twice as high as the male rates in such countries as Canada, Italy, and Spain in 1996 (World Health Statistics Annual, 1996).