The study used baseline data previously collected as part of the Kuopio Ischemic Heart Disease Risk Factor Study conducted in eastern Finland by the Research Institute of Public Health and the Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, both in Kuopio, and the Finnish National Public Health Institute in Helsinki. The area of eastern Finland lies within the area of greatest morbidity and mortality from ischemic heart disease in Finland, was part of the reference area for the evaluation of the North Karelia Project, and is part of the World Health Organization MONICA project.