From a large, community based cardiovascular risk screening programme including more than 13,000 patients, patients in the catchment area of St Vincent's University Hospital are invited to participate in the STOP-HF study. The objective of this work is to determine whether or not using natriuretic peptide screening in conjunction with specialist follow-up will reduce the prevalence and severity of LVD in a well-defined, at-risk, primary care population. It also aims to: evaluate the natural history of natriuretic peptides over time in this population; to clarify optimal screening cut-offs for the detection of LVD; to evaluate the clinical, pharmacological, biochemical, genetic and proteomic determinants of natriuretic peptides in this setting; to determine whether the clinical benefits of the STOP HF screening programme, if any, are cost effective.