Significance and clinical relevance Non-communicable disease is the main cause of death and morbidity worldwide. The number of elderly will increase rapidly in the next 30 years and currently there are severe economic problems for Swedish health care with decreasing number of hospital beds and personnel as a result. The idea is that the very old should live at home healthy longer and that health care should be provided outside hospitals and specialized care. In another project we have investigated the incidence of myocardial infarction and stroke in the total Swedish population above 50 years of age, i.e. in 3.29 million individuals. In this cohort, 28,268 individuals suffered a myocardial infarction and 29,708 individuals suffered a stroke at a mean age of about 77 years in 2006. Thus, any preventive measures that could decrease the future risk of CVD and stroke in our cohort of 70-year olds would be of high importance. Furthermore, the potential of preventive measures in our cohort is high given that; 41% of the participants collected so far have systolic blood pressure above 140, 16% are obese (BMI of at least 30) and 61% of the participants do not reach the minimal amount of physical activity as suggested by the World Health Organization.