The Moli-sani Study

The cohort of the Moli-sani study has recruited 24,325 persons, aged \>35 years, resident in the Molise region.The latter covers an area of 4,438 Km2, including 136 towns. Participants are recruited from city-hall registries by a multistage sampling. Firstly townships were sampled in three major areas of Molise region, starting from the main cities (Campobasso, Termoli, Isernia) by cluster sampling, then, within each township, participants are selected by simple random sampling, using electronically generated numbers.Exclusion criteria are pregnancy at the time of recruitment, disturbances in understanding or willingness, current poly-traumas or coma, refusal to sign the Informed Consent form. All subjects identified are sent a letter inviting them to participate in the project, followed a few days later by a phone call. The recruitment started in the area of Campobasso, then it moved to the areas of Termoli.