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Background: Relatives of patients with coronary heart disease have a heightened risk of cardiovascular disease. Attendance at a family-based screening clinic after an acute cardiac event could motivate patients and relatives to modify their lifestyles., Aims: The Family Atherosclerosis Risk Intervention Study (FARIS) aimed to determine (i) whether a high proportion of patients and relatives would attend a special screening and prevention programme; (ii) whether the risk factor profiles of relatives would be worse than those in the general community; and (iii) whether ongoing management of patients and families together in a special clinic would improve risk factor profiles., Methods: Consecutive patients, together with spouse, siblings and offspring, aged 18 to 69 years, were randomly allocated three months after an acute cardiac event to attend a special outpatient clinic, a screening and advice group, or a control group. Risk factor measures were total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol (HDLC), systolic blood pressure (SBP), body mass index (BMI) and smoking behaviour. This paper presents the risk factor profiles of all FARIS attenders and compares those of family members, age adjusted, with risk factors measured in a multicentre urban cross-sectional survey conducted in the same period. Differences between groups were compared using t-tests for numerical variables and ANOVA and chi-square for categorical variables., Results: Six hundred and twenty-eight patients and 1723 family members were enrolled, representing 85.9% and 82.7% of eligible patients and relatives respectively. Risk factors were significantly worse amongst family members than among those in the population survey.