Selected anthropometric (body weight and BMI), dietary (kilocalories, carbohydrate, protein, total fat, saturated fat, linoleic acid, oleic acid, dietary cholesterol, and P/S ratio), blood pressure, and blood lipid parameters (total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride (TG), and TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratios) were assessed in 67 males from the Cardiac Therapy and Intervention Program at Virginia Tech. Several studies have found strong correlations between these variables and the incidence of coronary heart disease. The group (cardiac or intervention), status (active or inactive), time (1982-83 baseline period, 1983-84 short-term follow-up period, and 1986 long-term follow-up period), and the group and status combination (cardiac active (CA), cardiac inactive (CI), intervention active (IA), and intervention inactive (II)) were chosen for statistical analysis to determine if there were significant differences due to these effects. The P/S ratio ( < 1.0), the dietary cholesterol intake ( > 250 mg), the level of blood cholesterol ( > 200 mg/dl), and the TC/HDL-C and the LDL-C/HDL-C ratios ( > average risk) were identified as areas which needed improvement in all groups. Compared to the dietary guidelines proposed by American Heart Association (AHA), all combinations of comparisons across three time periods exhibited higher percentages of kilocalories provided by total fat, saturated fat, and protein, and lower percentages of kilocalories provided by linoleic acid and carbohydrate. The HDL-C levels were below the fiftieth percentiles relative to, the Lipid Research Clinics Population Study data. Blood pressures were under good control. The four subgroups exhibited significantly different mean body weights and TC/HDL-C and LDL-C/HDL-C ratios. The II group had the highest values for all these variables, the lowest mean body weight was seen in the CI group, and the IA group had the lowest mean values for the latter two ratios. There was a trend toward the lowest mean dietary intake and blood lipid levels occurring at the short-term follow-up period; however, only the mean intakes of total calories and carbohydrate and the blood LDL-C levels were significantly different among the three time periods. The lowest mean values for these three variables occurred at the short-term follow-up period while the highest mean values occurred at the long-term follow-up period. The group effect was seen in the mean intakes of total fat, saturated fat, linoleic acid, oleic acid, and the percentage of kilocalories as fat and the mean levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressures. The intervention group exhibited the higher mean values for these variables. The major difference relative to status was in the mean values of the TC/HDL-C ratio. The inactive participants had the higher mean value. The results of a discriminant analysis procedure which was used to determine which combination of risk factors was most influential in distinguishing the cardiac group from the intervention group indicated that abnormal electrocardiogram test res~lts and age were the most influential factors of those studied. / M.S.