Smoking was a stronger risk factor for myocardial infarction in middle-aged women than in men. Relative risks associated with serum lipids and blood pressure were similar despite large sex differences in myocardial infarction incidence rates.

Objectives. The overall aim of the SAMINOR project was to study health and diseases in relation to living conditions among the Sámi population and to compare these with the Norwegian population in the same area. This article provides an overview of the background of the study and a description of the methods employed for the data collection. We give sample characteristics and elaborate on different definitions of ethnicity. Study design. Cross-sectional, population-based study, including questionnaires, a clinical examination and analyses of blood samples. Methods. All individuals 30 or 36 to 79 years of age who were living in defined municipalities or specified local areas with a known Sámi population were invited to a cardiovascular screening program. The data were collected during [2003][2004]. The questionnaires focused on living conditions, health, Sámi traditions and ethnicity. The eligible population consisted of 27,987 individuals and 16,865 (60.6%) participated by answering at least one questionnaire. Analyses were restricted to the 36 to 79 year-old age group which had 16,538 participants. The screening program comprised a blood sample, measurements of blood pressure, height, weight, and waist and hip ratio. Different definitions of Sámi ethnicity were explored. Results. Of the sample, 35.6 % reported Sámi background, and 13.2 % reported that they, their parents and their grandparents had Sámi as their domestic language. This stringent definition of Sámi produced clearer differences between Sámi and Norwegians, as shown for some measures of socioeconomic status. Conclusions. The findings that are related to more strict definitions of Sámi ethnicity have important implications for the interpretation of earlier works and for future studies.

The associations among obesity, height, cardiovascular risk factors, and the incidence of clinical diabetes mellitus were investigated in the Norwegian population-based Finnmark Study of 11,654 men and women aged 35-52 years at baseline in 1977-1978. A total of 87 cases of diabetes among men and 75 cases among women were registered during 12 years of follow-up. The incidence of diabetes was 1.1 per 1,000 person-years in women and 1.2 per 1,000 person-years in men, but sex-related differences in risk factors were noted. Body mass index was the dominant risk factor in men and predicted diabetes in a dose-response relation in both sexes. However, in women, the association between body mass index and diabetes was greatly attenuated after multivariable adjustment. Serum lipid concentrations were similar in prediabetic men and women; thus, prediabetic women had a relatively more adverse metabolic risk profile as compared with nondiabetics of the same sex. In multivariable analysis, high density lipoprotein cholesterol was inversely related to diabetes in women (relative risk per 0.3 mmol/liter, 0.53; 95% confidence interval 0.41-0.70) but not in men (relative risk, 0.97; 95% confidence interval 0.78-1.19). Serum glucose was a highly significant predictor in both sexes, while height was inversely related to diabetes only in women (relative risk per 5 cm, 0.71; 95% confidence interval 0.58-0.87).

The results are consistent with the theory that factors influencing early growth as well as adult lifestyle factors contribute to cerebrovascular disease in adult age.

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