The Family Heart Study (FamHS) is a multicenter, population-based, family study designed to investigate the determinants of cardiovascular disease [74]. Families in the FamHS were selected at random (588 families) or ascertained for family history of CHD (656 families) using information collected in the parent studies—Framingham Heart Study (Framingham, MA, USA), the Utah Health Family Tree Study (Salt Lake City, UT, USA) or the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (Minneapolis Suburbs, MN, USA and Forsyth County, NC,USA). Between 2002 and 2003 about two-thirds of the largest families were invited to participate in a follow-up clinical examination that included measurement of the liver and abdomen with cardiac CT using standardized procedures and quality control methods developed in NHLBI's MESA and CARDIA studies [75]. Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and this project was approved by the Institutional Review Boards of all participating institutions.
