Objectives, design and recruitment of a familial and longitudinal cohort for studying gene-environment interactions in the field of cardiovascular risk: the Stanislas cohort.

The main objective of the Stanislas cohort is to study the role and the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to cardiovascular status. We plan: a) to describe the degree of association of a large number of cardiovascular risk indicators with cardiovascular endpoints, b) to evaluate the contribution of genetic and that of environmental factors to this association, c) to follow the evolution of these risk indicators during a period of at least ten years, d) to search for the determinants influencing this evolution. The principal variables studied are: a) blood pressure, cardiac mass, and wall thickness of carotid and femoral arteries, b) obesity and fat mass, c) indicators of lipid metabolism, d) genetic polymorphisms of several cardiovascular risk candidate genes, e) food, tobacco and alcohol consumption, f) consumption of drugs and anti-oxidant vitamins. Between September 1993 and August 1995, 1006 families consisting of the two biological parents with at least two children were recruited totalling 4295 individuals. This cohort will be followed up until 2004. There will be two health examinations five and ten years after the initial examination. A bank of blood samples (serum and plasma) in liquid nitrogen and DNA (-80 degrees C) has been established.