METHODSThe present study is part of

METHODS
The present study is part of the Preterm Birth and Early
Life Programming of Adult Health and Disease (ESTER)
Study, the design of which is depicted in Figure 1. The original
cohort comprised 1980 individuals born in Northern Finland,
987 (49.8%) of whom came from the Northern Finland Birth
Cohort 1986 (NFBC; born in 1985–1986) (13); the remaining
993 (50.2%) were recruited from all individuals born in
the same geographical area in 1987–1989 and were identified
through the Finnish Medical Birth Register (FMBR). The
numbers of those who were invited and those who participated
are shown in Figure 1. From the NFBC, we invited all individuals
who were born either early preterm (born before 34 gestational
weeks) or late preterm (born at 34–36 gestational
weeks); from the FMBR, we recruited all individuals who
were born early preterm. Furthermore, to attain approximately
double the total number of participants in the late preterm