In one study, researchers followed more than 2,000 women for 10 years.
The researchers followed nearly 200 children beginning at age 7.
But this wasn't a situation where researchers had followed 1,000 people for 15 years to learn what worked best.
The researchers followed the participants, on average, for three years.
The researchers then followed the subjects for an average of 5.7 years.
The researchers working on the computer systems are following various approaches.
Researchers followed 1,612 children from birth until an average age of about 4 1/2.
The researchers followed more than 9,000 women in 20 countries for roughly five years.
The researchers followed 1,305 men who originally were thought to be free of heart disease.
Two years later, the researchers followed up and found that 328 had developed symptoms.