Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
The
Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study
(ARIC), sponsored by the
, is a prospective
epidemiologic study conducted in four U.S. communities. ARIC is designed
to investigate the etiology and natural history of atherosclerosis,
the etiology of clinical atherosclerotic diseases, and variation in
cardiovascular risk factors, medical care and disease
by race, gender, location, and date.
ARIC includes two parts: the Cohort Component and the Community
Surveillance Component. The Cohort Component began in 1987, and each
ARIC field center randomly selected and recruited a cohort sample of
approximately 4,000 individuals aged 45-64 from a defined population in
their community. A total of 15,792 participants received an extensive
examination, including medical, social, and demographic data. These
participants were reexamined every three years with the first screen
(baseline) occurring in 1987-89, the second in 1990-92, the third in 1993-95,
and the fourth and last exam was in 1996-98. Follow-up occurs yearly by
telephone to maintain contact with participants and to assess health
status of the cohort.
In the Community Surveillance Component, currently ongoing, these four
communities are investigated to determine the community-wide occurrence
of hospitalized myocardial infarction and coronary heart disease deaths
in men and women aged 35-84 years. Hospitalized stroke is investigated
in cohort participants only. The study conducts community
surveillance of inpatient heart failure (ages 55 years and older) and cohort
surveillance outpatient heart failure events beginning in 2005.
To date, the ARIC project has published 972 articles in
and other summary reports of ARIC data at
various national and international scientific conferences and meetings.
If you are an investigator interested in becoming involved with the
ARIC study, please take a moment to review information about "
", located
.
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