Subjects in the original or the combined
cohort underwent in-home in-person interviews with structured
questionnaires for eliciting lifestyle, socioeconomic, and healthand healthcare-related information by trained interviewers in
1989, 1993, 1996, 1999, and 2003. In 1999, 4440 subjects of the
combined cohort completed the survey (a 90.4% completion rate).
In 2003, 3778 subjects completed the survey (315 died during
1999e2003 and 347 lost to follow-up) (Fig. 1).