The STOP-HF study is a prospective, randomized, controlled trial recruiting asymptomatic individuals with risk factors for left ventricular dysfunction from 50 primary care clinics in Dublin and south east Ireland. It is designed to determine whether using natriuretic peptide measurement as a screening tool following a general cardiovascular risk factor screen will reduce the prevalence and severity of ventricular dysfunction in conjunction with specialist follow-up at St. Vincent's University Hospital.