The investigators will use two population-based samples of unrelated individuals to address their aims: 1) study subjects in the PREVEND study in Groningen, The Netherlands in whom DNA and plasma samples and clinical data have already been collected and 2) an estimated 2000 unrelated study subjects from Ghana, Africa in whom data need to be collected. The collaborative study focuses on the common hypothesis that the association between activation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and atherothrombotic events derives from an interaction between the RAAS and the fibrinolytic system.