The validation cohorts included the Framingham Offspring Study (FOS) [13], Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA) [41], InCHIANTI [42],[43], ALSPAC [44] and EPIC-Norfolk [45]. The FOS is a population-based sample of residents of Framingham, Massachusetts. Adiponectin was measured at exam 7 (1998–2002). BLSA is an observational study that began in 1958 to study normative aging in a cohort of healthy persons 17 years of age and older at study entry. InCHIANTI is a population-based cohort designed to study aging-related traits and disease from the Chianti geographic region (Tuscany, Italy). ALSPAC is a population-based birth cohort study consisting initially of over 13,000 women and their children recruited in the county of Avon, UK, in the early 1990s. The EPIC-Norfolk cohort is a British population-based study of white persons recruited from Norfolk, UK, between 1993 and 1997. All individuals in all replication cohorts were of self-described European descent.
