Eligibility

Eligible MESA participants are defined as persons living within the defined geographic boundaries for each Field Center who are between the ages of 45 and 84 at enumeration, who are African-American, Chinese-American, Caucasian, or Hispanic, and who do not meet any of the exclusion criteria. Target ethnic groups for each field center were chosen to maximize efficiency to detect ethnic differences and to allow the separation of the effect of ethnicity from that of study site.

Exclusion Criteria

MESA's primary hypotheses are concerned with the determinants and natural history of subclinical cardiovascular disease. Therefore, participants with known clinical disease will not be recruited. Most other exclusion criteria relate to the long-term nature of the study or to incompatibility with certain components of the MESA exam. Eligibility (or ineligibility) status will be determined from self-reported information; no attempt will be made to validate the participant's response. MESA's exclusion criteria are:

• Age younger than 45 or older than 84 years
• Physician-diagnosed heart attack
• Physician-diagnosed angina or taking nitroglycerin
• Physician-diagnosed stroke or TIA
• Physician-diagnosed heart failure
• Current atrial fibrillation
• Having undergone procedures related to cardiovascular disease (CABG, angioplasty, valve replacement, pacemaker or defibrillator implantation, any surgery on the heart or arteries)
• Active treatment for cancer
• Pregnancy
• Any serious medical condition which would prevent long-term participation
• Weight >300 pounds
• Cognitive inability as judged by the interviewer
• Living in a nursing home or on the waiting list for a nursing home
• Plans to leave the community within five years
• Language barrier (speaks other than English, Spanish, Cantonese or Mandarin)
• Chest CT scan in the past year

Potential participants who respond "Don't know" to questions about medical conditions will not be considered ineligible.