The cohort of 60-year-old men and women
The cohort of 60-year old men and women consists of every third man and woman residing in Stockholm county, who during one year (1997 01 07 - 1998 0630) reached the age of 60, and who subsequently was invited to a careful health control, including blood sampling, and completion of a questionnaire, etc (response rate 78 %). Blood samples and DNA were stored in -80 ?C freezers (4 freezers) both at Karolinska Hospital and the Karolinska Institutet. DNA has been extracted on all subjects and 4232 individuals participated at the health check-up. The predictive role of different risk exposures/biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is assessed through annual matching against available national registers. So far 408 incident CVD cases have been registered (up to 2010, on average 12 years of follow up). About 35 international original articles have been generated from the database. Analyses of baseline data indicate that a variety of metabolic disturbances go unrecognized in this age group, many of which are attributed to low levels of physical exercise and bad life-style habits. Through analyses of incident CVD events using nested case-control designs two novel biomarkers have been identified; 1) Anti-PC (phosphorylcholine) a natural IgM antibody of which low levels reflect disturbed immunological defense mechanisms of the vascular wall and 2) CD 93 of which low levels are related to an increased risk for CVD. Novel potential pathways for CVD are currently investigated through determinations of miRNAs in a nested sample of incident myocardial infarctions and controls through collaboration with the University of Milan, Italy. The running of genome-wide analyses (GWAs) is planned. In addition, particular emphasis will be put on evaluating novel inflammatory biomarkers (immunological antibodies like Ox Cardiolipin, PCSK9 etc.) by multiplex techniques such as the Meso Scale platform. Purpose: To assess the predictive role of different risk exposures/biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases (CVD).
