During 2001-2002, we randomly enrolled 1,514 men (18-87 years old) and 1,528 women (18-89 years old) from the Attica region of Greece (of them, 5% of men and 3% of women were excluded because of history of cardiovascular diseases). Diabetes was defined according to the established criteria of the American Diabetes Association (11). Only subjects with type 2 diabetes were included in the analysis due to the small sample size of people with type 1 diabetes. Details about the aims and methods of the ATTICA study have been presented elsewhere (12).