Pawtucket Heart Health Program
NHLBI-funded community trial in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, with New Bedford, Massachusetts as comparison. About 7.5 years of intervention from 1983 relied on trained lay volunteers, church and worksite screening, weight-loss and smoking competitions, grocery shelf labels and restaurant menu labels, plus print, radio and TV messages.
- Years
- 1983
- Country
- United States
- Topic
- Blood pressureCardiovascularNutritionPhysical activityTobacco
- Asks people to
- Seek helpStartStop
- Strategy
- Contest incentiveMulti level communityTrusted messenger
- Channel
- EventsInterpersonalPoint of salePrintRadioSchoolTV
- Audience
- AdultsGeneral public
Evidence
Quasi-experimentalMixed
Smoking fell slightly more in the comparison city; small non-significant differences favoured Pawtucket in cholesterol and blood pressure; body mass index rose in the comparison city in cross-sectional surveys. Projected cardiovascular disease rates were 16% lower in Pawtucket during the programme, narrowing to 8% after it ended (Carleton et al. 1995).
Sponsor (who paid)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Federal government, funder
- Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island / Brown University Academic, designer and evaluator
Credits (who made it)
- Richard A. Carleton Individual
- Thomas M. Lasater Individual
Related campaigns
- Minnesota Heart Health Program 1981
- Stanford Five-City Project 1980–1986
- North Karelia Project 1972–1997
Sources
- Carleton RA et al. The Pawtucket Heart Health Program: community changes in cardiovascular risk factors and projected disease risk. Am J Public Health 1995;85:777-85 evaluation · 1995 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.85.6.777 · PMID 7762709
- Pawtucket Heart Health Program, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00005151 reference
Research notes
Design, components and 1983 start read from the ClinicalTrials.gov API record (study 1980-08 to 1997-07; 'effective community intervention began in 1983, total intervention was 7.5 years'). End year left blank. A 1986 'Know Your Cholesterol' sub-campaign (Lefebvre et al., Health Educ Q) was seen only in search results. Reuse terms checked 2026-10-23 by an AI research pass for #47; not yet reviewed by a person.
Record cases/pawtucket-heart-health-program.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign