Table 1.

Major stages of the 1982 cohort study. Pelotas, Southern Brazil, 1982 to 2004-5.

Year	Target population		Main search strategy	Mean age (range)	Studied population		Losses (%)
	Description	n			Interviewed	Deaths
1982	All live births in Pelotas hospitals between January and December 1982	5,914	Daily visits to hospitals	Zero	5,914	0	-
1983	All children born between January and April 1982	1,916	Addresses obtained at hospital	11.3 months (8 to 16)	1,457	66	20.7
1984	All children	5,914	Census of 70,000 households	19.4 months (12 to 29)	4,934	227	12.8
1986	All children	5,914	Census of 80,000 households	43.1 months (35.4 to 53)	4,742	237	15.9
1995	20% of the cohort	1,100	Visit to previous addresses	13.1 years (12.5 to 13.7)	715	47	30.1
1997	27% of the cohort	1,597	Visit to 27% of households	14.7 years (14.0 to 15.6)	1,076	70	28.2
2000	All male subjects	3,037	Identification during military enlistment	18.2 years (17.6 to 19.1)	2,250	143	21.1
2001	27% of the cohort	1,597	Visit to 27% of households	18.9 years (18.1 to 19.9)	1,031	71	31.0
1997 and 2001	Ethnographic study	96	Visit to 8 census sectors identified in 1997 and 2001	15 to 19 years	96	-	-
2004-5	All youths in the cohort	5,914	Census of 98,000 households	22.8 years (21.9 to 23.7)	4,297	282	22.6