ALB and diabetes mellitus: In order to define a parsimonious adjustment set for each panel, the conducted variable selection procedures identified gender, age, occupational status, educational level, cohabitation, smoking, WC, and history of stroke and diabetes mellitus as relevant socio-demographic and behavioral covariates for mortality risk prediction (model 1); and fibrinogen, HbA1c, albumin, and GGT as the most informative biomarkers (model 2).