About the Authors

Haojie Li

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: haojie.li@channing.havard.edu

Affiliation Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Meir J Stampfer

Affiliations Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System, Massachusetts, United States of America

J. Bruce W Hollis

Affiliation Department of Pediatrics, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America

Lorelei A Mucci

Affiliation Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

J. Michael Gaziano

Affiliations Division of Preventive Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiology Research and Information Center, Veterans Administration Boston Healthcare System, Massachusetts, United States of America

David Hunter

Affiliations Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Edward L Giovannucci

Affiliations Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America , Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Jing Ma

Affiliation Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Competing Interests

BH is a consultant for DiaSorin Corp for the assay of 25(OH)D.

Author Contributions

MJS, ELG, and JM conceived and wrote the initial study proposal and contributed substantially to conception and design of the research study. BWH, JMG, and DH made substantial contributions to acquisition of data. HL performed data analysis and drafted the manuscript. MJS, ELG, LAM, and JM participated in results interpretation and editing of the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.