A total of 1,358 control subjects were included in the GWAS. Controls were taken from three population-based epidemiological studies: 1) N=487 from PopGen34 N=488 from KORA35 and 3) N=383 from Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study (HNR)36. These three recruitment areas are located in Schleswig-Holstein (North Germany), Augsburg (South Germany) and Essen, Bochum, Mülheim (Ruhr-Area, West Germany). The PopGen (Population-based Recruitment of Patients and Controls for the Analysis) project (http://www.science.ngfn.de/10_233.htm; www.popgen.de;) was initiated to provide all locally prevalent cases with the diseases in question for the disease-orientated projects from the NGFN as well as population-based control samples which will ultimately comprise 7200 persons. The KORA project (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg http://www.science.ngfn.de/10_234.htm; www.gsf.de/KORA), which has evolved from the WHO MONICA study (Monitoring of Trends and Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease), has the biosamples, phenotypic characteristics and environmental parameters of 18,000 adults from Augsburg and the surrounding counties. The biological specimen bank was established in order to enable researchers to perform epidemiological research into molecular and genetic factors. The Heinz Nixdorf Recall (Risk Factors, Evaluation of Coronary Calcification, and Lifestyle) study
