Cardiovascular disease (CVD) includes primarily coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke, hypertensive heart disease and heart failure. Atherosclerosis is the underlying disease process for the major forms of cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke and coronary heart disease. This disease process, which typically begins in childhood, manifests itself in middle age or later (3). Although the incidence of atherosclerosis increases markedly with age, it is not an inevitable consequence of aging (3).