Table. Baseline Characteristics Across Healthful Plant-based Diet Index Quartiles Among UK Biobank Participants.
| Characteristic | Value (n = 126 217)a | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quartile 1 (n = 33 901) | Quartile 2 (n = 30 427) | Quartile 3 (n = 30 007) | Quartile 4 (n = 31 882) | |
| hPDI score, mean (SD) | 47.7 (3.3) | 53.7 (1.5) | 57.7 (1.5) | 63.4 (3.3) |
| Sex | ||||
| Women | 18 082 (53.3) | 17 072 (56.1) | 17 143 (57.1) | 18 258 (57.3) |
| Men | 15 819 (46.7) | 13 355 (43.9) | 12 864 (42.9) | 13 624 (42.7) |
| Age at recruitment, mean (SD), y | 54.6 (8.1) | 56.2 (7.8) | 56.7 (7.6) | 57.2 (7.4) |
| BMI, mean (SD) | 27.7 (5.0) | 26.8 (4.5) | 26.4 (4.3) | 25.8 (4.2) |
| Physical activity level | ||||
| Low | 12 621 (37.2) | 10 331 (34.0) | 9479 (31.6) | 8895 (27.9) |
| Moderate | 10 618 (31.3) | 10 004 (32.9) | 9963 (33.2) | 10 713 (33.6) |
| High | 9963 (29.4) | 9529 (31.3) | 10 020 (33.4) | 11 780 (37.0) |
| Race and ethnicity | ||||
| Asian | 1405 (4.1) | 1316 (4.3) | 1423 (4.7) | 1700 (5.3) |
| Black | 113 (0.3) | 104 (0.3) | 108 (0.4) | 141 (0.7) |
| Multiple | 991 (2.9) | 840 (2.8) | 786 (2.6) | 913 (2.9) |
| White | 31 100 (91.7) | 27 897 (91.7) | 27 421 (91.4) | 28 790 (90.3) |
| Otherb | 187 (0.6) | 154 (0.5) | 183 (0.6) | 219 (0.7) |
| Education level | ||||
| Low | 9321 (27.5) | 7948 (26.1) | 1950 (24.9) | 7588 (23.8) |
| Medium | 6039 (17.8) | 5033 (16.5) | 7469 (15.2) | 4579 (14.4) |
| High | 15 969 (47.1) | 15 232 (50.1) | 4570 (53.4) | 17 860 (56.0) |
| Smoking status | ||||
| Never | 19 462 (57.4) | 17 310 (56.9) | 17 174 (57.2) | 18 157 (57.0) |
| Previous | 11 392 (33.6) | 10 892 (35.8) | 10 859 (36.2) | 11 979 (37.6) |
| Current | 2984 (8.8) | 2148 (7.1) | 1905 (6.4) | 1682 (5.3) |
| Alcohol intake, mean (SD), g/d | 13.5 (19.4) | 13.2 (18.1) | 12.7 (17.8) | 11.2 (17.0) |
| Medication use | ||||
| Aspirin | 4405 (13.0) | 3919 (12.9) | 3941 (13.1) | 4317 (13.5) |
| Multimorbidity, No. of long-term conditions | ||||
| 0 | 13 833 (40.8) | 12 642 (41.6) | 12 417 (41.4) | 13 482 (42.3) |
| 1 | 10 248 (30.2) | 9083 (29.9) | 9223 (30.7) | 9547 (29.9) |
| 2 | 5589 (16.5) | 5072 (16.7) | 4980 (16.6) | 5191 (16.3) |
| ≥3 | 4231 (12.5) | 3630 (11.9) | 3387 (11.3) | 3662 (11.5) |
| Polypharmacy, No. of medications | ||||
| 0 | 10 281 (30.3) | 9343 (30.7) | 9402 (31.3) | 10 148 (31.8) |
| 1-3 | 15 889 (46.9) | 14 262 (46.9) | 13 935 (46.4) | 14 765 (46.3) |
| 4-6 | 5600 (16.5) | 5021 (16.5) | 4962 (16.5) | 5186 (16.3) |
| 7-9 | 1508 (4.5) | 1310 (4.3) | 1226 (4.2) | 1367 (4.3) |
| ≥10 | 619 (1.8) | 481 (1.6) | 438 (1.5) | 413 (1.3) |
| hPDI food item intake, portion/dc | ||||
| Healthy plant food | ||||
| Whole grains | 1.6 (1.3) | 2.0 (1.4) | 2.3 (1.4) | 2.8 (1.5) |
| Fruit | 1.5 (1.2) | 2.0 (1.4) | 2.5 (1.6) | 3.2 (1.7) |
| Vegetables | 1.7 (1.4) | 2.2 (1.6) | 2.6 (1.8) | 3.5 (2.2) |
| Nuts | 0.1 (0.2) | 0.1 (0.3) | 0.2 (0.3) | 0.3 (0.5) |
| Legumes | 0.3 (0.3) | 0.3 (0.4) | 0.4 (0.4) | 0.6 (0.6) |
| Tea and coffee | 3.9 (1.6) | 4.2 (1.6) | 4.5 (1.6) | 4.9 (1.7) |
| Unhealthy plant food | ||||
| Refined grains | 1.7 (1.2) | 1.1 (1.0) | 0.8 (0.8) | 0.5 (0.6) |
| Potatoes | 0.9 (0.6) | 0.7 (0.5) | 0.6 (0.5) | 0.5 (0.5) |
| Sugary drinks | 0.8 (1.0) | 0.5 (0.8) | 0.4 (0.6) | 0.2 (0.5) |
| Fruit juices | 0.6 (0.6) | 0.5 (0.5) | 0.4 (0.5) | 0.3 (0.5) |
| Sweets and desserts | 1.8 (1.3) | 1.5 (1.2) | 1.3 (1.1) | 0.9 (1.0) |
| Animal fat | 1.1 (1.2) | 0.7 (1.0) | 0.5 (0.9) | 0.3 (0.7) |
| Dairy | 1.2 (0.8) | 1.1 (0.7) | 1.1 (0.7) | 1.0 (0.8) |
| Eggs | 0.4 (0.5) | 0.3 (0.4) | 0.2 (0.4) | 0.2 (0.4) |
| Fish or seafood | 0.4 (0.4) | 0.3 (0.4) | 0.3 (0.4) | 0.3 (0.4) |
| Meat | 1.5 (0.9) | 1.2 (0.8) | 1.0 (0.8) | 0.8 (0.7) |
| Miscellaneous animal-based foods | 0.2 (0.4) | 0.1 (0.3) | 0.1 (0.2) | 0 (0.2) |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); hPDI, healthful plant-based diet index.
a
Relative frequencies (%) include missing values, which may not equate to 100%.
b
Other includes any racial and ethnic group not otherwise specified.
c
Portion sizes were specified as a “serving” in the Oxford WebQ tool.