Study Population

The ARIC study is a prospective cohort study of 15,792 individuals aged 45-64 years from four U.S. communities (Forsyth County, NC; Jackson, MS; suburbs of Minneapolis, MN; and Washington County, MD) originally sampled between 1987 and 1989. A detailed description of the ARIC study design was published elsewhere ¹⁹. Metabolomic profiles of baseline stored serum samples were measured in 1,997 African Americans in 2010 (phase 1), and 2,152 African and European Americans in 2014 (phase 2). Included in this analysis were 3,598 participants who did not have prevalent CHD or impaired renal function (estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73 m²) at the baseline examination, with CHD follow-up and complete covariate information. The ARIC study was approved by the institutional review boards at each site, and written informed consent was obtained from all study participants.