Therefore, the aims of our study were (1) to investigate the association of the APOE allele with carotid IMT and plaques, and risk of incident MI and stroke during a median follow-up period of 14.5 years in a population-based cohort; (2) to investigate the influence of cholesterol levels on these associations and (3) to examine the effect of APOE alleles on the association between carotid artery measures of IMT and plaque at baseline and risk of incident MI and stroke. The gene discussed is APOE; the disease is stroke disorder.