Summary
The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study was initiated in 1985 with two components: community-based surveillance and a prospective cohort study. The community surveillance aimed to monitor trends in hospitalized myocardial infarction (MI), fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) in four U.S. communities: Forsyth County, NC; Jackson, MS; suburbs of Minneapolis, MN; and Washington County, MD. Surveillance for hospitalized heart failure (HF) events was added in 2005. The communities were selected to provide data across four (4) geographic locations with a range of mortality rates, in urban