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Stanford Five-City Project

Stanford trial (education 1980-1986) that gave two northern California cities a five-year, multichannel programme of TV, radio, print, classes and community organising aimed at blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, weight and exercise, compared with two control cities and a fifth city tracked for disease events.

Years
1980–1986
Country
United States
Topic
Blood pressureCardiovascularNutritionPhysical activityTobacco
Asks people to
StartStopSubstitute
Strategy
Multi level communitySelf efficacy
Channel
EventsInterpersonalPrintRadioTV
Audience
AdultsGeneral public
All residents of two treatment cities (about 122,800 people) vs two control cities (about 197,500).

Evidence

Quasi-experimentalMixed

After 30-64 months, net reductions favouring treatment cities in the cohort: cholesterol 2%, blood pressure 4%, resting pulse 3%, smoking 13%; composite total mortality risk score down 15% and coronary risk score down 16% (Farquhar et al. 1990). Blood pressure gains held three years after the programme ended (Winkleby et al. 1996). But actual heart attack and stroke rates did not fall more in treatment cities; declines after 1986 were seen in all cities (Fortmann et al. 2000).

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Stanford University Center for Research in Disease Prevention Academic, designer and evaluator

Credits (who made it)

  • John W. Farquhar Individual
  • Stephen P. Fortmann Individual

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. Farquhar JW et al. Effects of communitywide education on cardiovascular disease risk factors. The Stanford Five-City Project. JAMA 1990;264:359-65 evaluation · 1990 · PMID 2362332
  2. Winkleby MA et al. The long-term effects of a cardiovascular disease prevention trial: the Stanford Five-City Project. Am J Public Health 1996;86:1773-9 evaluation · 1996 · DOI 10.2105/ajph.86.12.1773 · PMID 9003136
  3. Fortmann SP, Varady AN. Effects of a community-wide health education program on cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality: the Stanford Five-City Project. Am J Epidemiol 2000;152:316-23 evaluation · 2000 · DOI 10.1093/aje/152.4.316 · PMID 10968376
  4. Fortmann SP et al. Community intervention trials: reflections on the Stanford Five-City Project experience. Am J Epidemiol 1995;142:576-86 history · 1995 · DOI 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a117678 · PMID 7653465

Research notes

City names (Monterey and Salinas as treatment cities) are widely cited but were not confirmed from a fetched source, so left out. Outcome 'mixed': risk factors improved, events did not. The JAMA 1990 paper has no DOI in PubMed.

Record cases/stanford-five-city-project.json, updated 2026-10-23· Link to this campaign