About the Authors

Judith S. Brand

Affiliation Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Maroeska M. Rovers

Affiliations Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands, Departments of EBH and operating rooms, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Bu B. Yeap

Affiliation School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Harald J. Schneider

Affiliation Medizinische Klinik Innenstadt der Universität München, München, Germany

Tomi-Pekka Tuomainen

Affiliation Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

Robin Haring

Affiliation Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Giovanni Corona

Affiliation Andrology and Sexual Medicine Unit Department of Clinical Physiopathology, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

Altan Onat

Affiliation Department of Cardiology, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

Marcello Maggio

Affiliation Department of Internal Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

Claude Bouchard

Affiliation Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States of America

Peter C. Y. Tong

Affiliation Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Richard Y. T. Chen

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology, Changing General Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

Masahiro Akishita

Affiliation Department of Geriatric Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Jourik A. Gietema

Affiliation Department of Medical Oncology, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands

Marie-Hélène Gannagé-Yared

Affiliation Department of Endocrinology, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon

Anna-Lena Undén

Affiliation Center for Family and Community Medicine, Stockholm, Sweden

Aarno Hautanen

† Deceased.

Affiliation Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Nicolai P. Goncharov

Affiliation Endocrinology Research Center, Moscow, Russia

Philip Kumanov

Affiliation Clinical Center of Endocrinology and Gerontology, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria

S. A. Paul Chubb

Affiliation School of Medicine and Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Osvaldo P. Almeida

Affiliation School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia

Hans-Ulrich Wittchen

Affiliation Institute of Clinical Psychology, Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Jens Klotsche

Affiliation Institute of Clinical Psychology, Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Henri Wallaschofski

Affiliation Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Henry Völzke

Affiliation Institute for Community Medicine, University Medicine Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany

Jussi Kauhanen

Affiliation Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

Jukka T. Salonen

Affiliation MAS-Metabolic Analytical Services Oy, Helsinki, Finland

Luigi Ferrucci

Affiliation Clinical Research Branch, National Institute on Aging, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America

Yvonne T. van der Schouw

y.t.vanderschouw@umcutrecht.nl

Affiliation Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: Prof. Jukka T. Salonen is currently employed by MAS-Metabolic Analytical Services Oy. This employment commenced after the completion of this study. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JSB MMR YTvdS. Performed the experiments: BBY HJS TPT RH GC AO MM CB PCYT RYTC MA JAG MHGY ALU AH NPG PK SAPC OPA HUW JK HW HV JK JTS LF. Analyzed the data: JSB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BBY HJS TPT RH GC AO MM CB PCYT RYTC MA JAG MHGY ALU AH NPG PK SAPC OPA HUW JK HW HV JK JTS LF. Wrote the paper: JSB MMR YTvdS.