A sample of eligible participants was randomly drawn from the registers of the local registry offices in the city of Mainz and the district of Mainz-Bingen. This sample was stratified in a ratio of 1∶1 for gender and residence, and in equal numbers for decades of age. Inclusion criteria were an age between 35 and 74 years and a written consent; exclusion criteria were insufficient knowledge of the German language to understand explanations and instructions, and physical or psychic inability to participate in the examinations in the study center. Individuals were invited for a 5-hour baseline-examination to the study center where clinical examinations and collection of blood samples were performed. The present analysis was based on an initial sample of 3,336 subjects successively enrolled into the GHS from April 2007 to April 2008. Genomic DNA was isolated from all participants. Monocyte RNA was isolated from half of the participants recruited each day to ensure rapid sample processing and isolation of total RNA. For approximately 1,500 study participants, both DNA and RNA were available.
