Abstract: Committee of Medical Journal Editors2 the full term for which an abbreviation or an acronym stands should precede its first use in the text.Perhaps Savage and Saad justified not explaining the acronym CARDIA by refer- ring to an earlier publication, their reference 20.Unfortunately there was no explanation of CARDIA in that reference either.3The authors of reference 3 referred to another article4 in which I finally found the deriva- tion of the acronym.CARDIA is an approx- imate acronym for Coronary Artery (Disease) Risk Development In (Young) Adults.4Physicians, especially cardiologists, like to use or invent acronyms.But unless they are explained they lead to frustration and sometimes confusion.Acronyms are often necessary but can sometimes be quite frus- trating if you do not know what they stand for.5That was why I recently prepared a list of acronyms of major cardiological trials (table),6 which is currently being updated.Acronyms can sometimes cause confusion, because several trials share the same acronyms-for example CATS, PACT, and TIPE.