The AGES-Reykjavik study is an ongoing study of the effects of gene-environment interactions and other risk factors on disease in old age. AGES-Reykjavik is a subset of a larger population based cohort study called the Reykjavik-study. The aim of the original study was to prospectively investigate risk factors for cardiovascular disease in the Icelandic population. The original Reykjavik-cohort was established in 1967 with a random sample of 30,795 individuals born in the years 1907–1935, and residing in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. A total of 18,045 individuals entered the study as participants and attended examinations. The AGES-Reykjavik sample was constructed in 2002 by randomly drawing 8,030 individuals who were still alive from the original Reykjavik-cohort (n = 11,459). A total of 5,764 individuals (58% women) entered the AGES-Reykjavik study as participants. All cohort members were European Caucasians.
