Recruiting African-American research participation in the Jackson Heart Study: methods, response rates, and sample description.

Objective: The sampling and recruitment methods, response rate, and cohort description for the all-African-American Jackson Heart Study (JHS) are detailed.

Methods: Four subsamples of participants residing in the Jackson, Mississippi metropolitan statistical area (MSA) were included: random, volunteer, ARIC (continuing from Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study), and family. A community-driven recruitment model was developed, and community representatives guided recruitment.