High rates of obesity prevalence in adults living in central Greece: data from the ARGOS study.

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of obesity in adults of a large region of Central Greece.

Design: The target group was adults aged 18 to 79 years who were residents of the region of Thessaly for at least one year. A sample of 852 individuals stratified for sex and age were included.

Lower prevalence of epsilon 4 allele of apolipoprotein E gene in healthy, longer-lived individuals of Hellenic origin.

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE), and especially its epsilon4 isoform, is considered a risk factor predisposing to coronary heart disease. We hypothesized that the absence of epsilon4 allele offers a better chance for longer life. So we compared the prevalence of ApoE genotypes in 80 healthy aged individuals (HAI) (>80 years) and 391 Greek adults (median age 43 years) with ApoE genotype distribution consistent with the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (chi(2) = 5.