The study is part of the initiative, The Etiology of Excess Cardiovascular Disease in Diabetes Mellitus, which was released in December 1995. The initiative originated after discussions between the NHLBI and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (JDFI), a voluntary organization that supports research on diabetes. Both agreed that a combination of advances in understanding the etiology of diabetes and of cardiovascular diseases made this an oppportune time to stimulate further research to understand the reasons for the excessive macrovascular complications associated with diabetes.