The Missouri rural elders study is a 20-year longitudinal design with the first
round of interviews in 1966, the second in 1974 and the third in 1986-1987. In 1966,
a random multistage cluster proportional to size sample of 1700 individuals 65 years
and older was drawn from 64 small towns (population of 5000 or less). The towns
were randomly selected from each of four distinct cultural regions in the state of
Missouri: North, East (German settlers), Central Ozarks (subsistence farming) and
the 'Bootheer (Mississippi Delta Culture).