Iceland is the ideal country for a study like iStopMM as the population has a history of very high participation rates in clinical trials, which is key for the success of the project.
Icelanders are very open to providing samples and responding to questionnaires with the goal of advancing science. In addition, the country holds a centralised health registry for all their residents, facilitating access to participant’s medical history.

The study’s inclusion criteria were:
• Being aged 40 years old and above at recruitment.
• Being resident in Iceland and registered in the Icelandic National Registry.
• Not having a previously known lymphoproliferative disease, other than MGUS.

A total of 148,704 eligible individuals were invited to participate in the iStopMM study. A letter containing a detailed information brochure and consent form was mailed to them. This was followed by an extensive campaign on social and conventional media introducing the study to the Icelandic public as well as phone calls to those who had not yet signed up.
From the eligible population, 80,759 individuals (54.3%) provided informed consent for participation⁵.