SHIP-START
Population
SHIP-START population
A representative sample of men and women aged between 20 and 79 years was drawn using a two-stage stratified and cluster sampling scheme. First, 32 communities in the region were selected. Second, within the communities a simple random sample was drawn from residence registries, stratified by gender and age.
Data Collection Event
SHIP-START - Morbidity and Mortality follow-up
In the mortality follow-up, annual collection of information on vital status from population registries is done. For deceased persons, death certificates are requested from the local health authorities. Two internists independently code the underlying cause of death and perform joint readings together with a third internist in cases of disagreement.
The morbidity follow-up is composed of 3 sources of information. First, two postal questionnaires on clinical events were administered to participants and events were validated by a general practitioner survey (in 2006-2009 and 2011-2014). Second, outpatient treatment data are obtained from the panel physicians association (started in 2002). Third, clinical data of SHIP participants are requested from the University Medicine Greifswald, the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, and dentists (beginning in 2007).