Fig. 1

Flow chart for pooling population cohorts and exclusions made to form the population samples to be studied. Sample 2 is a subsample of Sample 1. All steps have been made for all cohorts but numbers after exclusions are illustrated only when the corresponding n is smaller due to them. MONICA Multinational Monitoring of trends and determinants in Cardiovascular disease, SHHEC Scottish Heart Health Extended Cohort, HF heart failure