Beginning in 1991, the study sought to establish if age and gender predict coronary artery calcification, a potent marker of atherosclerosis, in individuals who were sampled by the RFHS and who reported no symptoms of coronary artery disease. The study also sought to establish: if measures of lipid metabolism provide additional information in predicting CAC after accounting for variation in age and gender; if measures of blood pressure, body size, fat distribution, or smoking predict CAC after accounting for variation in age, gender, and measures of lipid metabolism; if the quantity of CAC aggregates in families; whether the predictors of CAC in asymptomatic individuals differ from predictors in those with symptoms of coronary artery disease. Ultrafast Cardiac Computed Tomography (Ultrafast CT) was used to obtain sensitive, noninvasive measures of both the presence and quantity of CAC.