Table 1.
Characteristics of the analyzed case-cohort (N = 1,208)
| Cases N = 342 | Non-Cases N = 866 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age at Blood Collection (Years; Median, IQR) | 66.0 | (60.0, 71.0) | 67.5 | (61.0, 73.0) |
| Dietary Calcium Intake (mg/d; Median, IQR) | 802.1 | (621.1, 1045.8) | 823.4 | (610.2, 1051.8) |
| Total Carotenoid Intake from Diet (mcg/d; Median, IQR) | 17885 | (13726, 23441) | 17274 | (13352, 23188) |
| Southern European Migrant Status (N, %) | ||||
| No | 277 | 81.0% | 696 | 80.4% |
| Yes | 65 | 19.0% | 170 | 19.6% |
| Socioeconomic Disadvantage (N, %) | ||||
| Quintile 1: Most Disadvantaged | 51 | 14.9% | 134 | 15.5% |
| Quintile 2 | 56 | 16.4% | 177 | 20.4% |
| Quintile 3 | 56 | 16.4% | 127 | 14.7% |
| Quintile 4 | 72 | 21.1% | 165 | 19.1% |
| Quintile 5: Least Disadvantaged | 107 | 31.3% | 263 | 30.4% |
| Education (N, %) | ||||
| Primary School or Some High / Technical School | 202 | 59.1% | 563 | 65.0% |
| Completed High / Technical School | 65 | 19.0% | 127 | 14.7% |
| Completed Tertiary Degree / Diploma | 75 | 21.9% | 176 | 20.3% |
| Smoking Status (N, %) | ||||
| Never Smoked | 251 | 73.4% | 637 | 73.6% |
| Ever Smoked | 91 | 26.6% | 229 | 26.4% |
| Lifetime Alcohol Consumption (N, %) | ||||
| Life Abstention | 135 | 39.5% | 318 | 36.7% |
| ≤ 19 g/d | 187 | 54.7% | 493 | 56.9% |
| 20 to 29 g/d | 12 | 3.5% | 26 | 3.0% |
| 30 to 39 g/d | 5 | 1.5% | 17 | 2.0% |
| ≥ 40 g/d | 3 | 0.9% | 12 | 1.4% |
| Body Mass Index (N, %) | ||||
| Normal (≥ 18.5 to < 25 kg/m2) | 144 | 42.1% | 374 | 43.2% |
| Overweight (≥ 25 to < 30 kg/m2) | 110 | 32.2% | 315 | 36.4% |
| Obese (≥ 30 kg/m2) | 88 | 25.7% | 177 | 20.4% |
| Physical Activitya (N, %) | ||||
| Insufficiently Active | 113 | 33.0% | 266 | 30.7% |
| Sufficiently Active | 80 | 23.4% | 245 | 28.3% |
| Highly Active | 149 | 43.6% | 355 | 41.0% |
| Age at Menopauseb (N, %) | ||||
| ≤ 48 years | 41 | 20.8% | 139 | 24.9% |
| 49–50 years | 53 | 26.9% | 144 | 25.8% |
| 51–52 years | 41 | 20.8% | 127 | 22.7% |
| ≥ 53 years | 62 | 31.5% | 149 | 26.7% |
| Normalized Biomarkers (Median, IQR) | ||||
| Sex-Steroid Hormone Pathway | ||||
| Progesterone (nmol/L) | 0.13 | (0.10, 0.19) | 0.13 | (0.10, 0.17) |
| Androstenedione (nmol/L) | 1.6 | (1.2, 2.2) | 1.5 | (1.2, 2.0) |
| DHEA (nmol/L) | 5.0 | (3.3, 7.4) | 4.5 | (2.9, 6.8) |
| Estrone (pmol/L) | 81.3 | (60.2, 114.8) | 78.7 | (58.9, 107.5) |
| SHBG (nmol/L) | 55.7 | (41.6, 79.5) | 61.9 | (45.6, 82.3) |
| Total Testosterone (nmol/L) | 0.64 | (0.45, 0.87) | 0.64 | (0.44, 0.89) |
| Total Estradiol (pmol/L) | 18.5 | (12.5, 27.7) | 16.3 | (10.9, 25.1) |
| Free Testosterone (pmol/L) | 5.5 | (3.8, 8.4) | 5.2 | (3.6, 7.5) |
| Free Estradiol (pmol/L) | 0.25 | (0.15, 0.40) | 0.20 | (0.13, 0.33) |
| Insulin/IGF-Signaling Pathway | ||||
| Insulin (pg/mL) | 298.0 | (207.5, 422.7) | 290.3 | (208.7, 438.6) |
| IGF-1 (nmol/L) | 7.8 | (6.4, 9.4) | 8.0 | (6.4, 10.0) |
| IGFBP-3 (nmol/L) | 66.2 | (58.0, 75.5) | 68.2 | (58.8, 76.8) |
| C-Peptide (ng/mL) | 2.6 | (2.1, 3.4) | 2.6 | (2.0, 3.4) |
| Inflammatory Pathway | ||||
| Leptin (pg/mL) | 16312 | (8441, 31909) | 14056 | (6387, 27578) |
| Adiponectin (ng/mL) | 25514 | (19623, 32838) | 24912 | (18922, 33098) |
| TNF-α (pg/mL) | 2.7 | (2.2, 3.3) | 2.6 | (2.2, 3.2) |
| IL-6 (pg/mL) | 0.73 | (0.55, 1.04) | 0.73 | (0.52, 1.02) |
| IL-8 (pg/mL) | 2.8 | (2.3, 3.9) | 3.0 | (2.2, 4.0) |
| IL-10 (pg/mL) | 0.25 | (0.19, 0.33) | 0.23 | (0.17, 0.32) |
| IFN-γ (pg/mL) | 5.5 | (4.1, 7.8) | 5.4 | (3.8, 8.6) |
| CRP (ng/mL) | 1633 | (804, 2936) | 1391 | (682, 3020) |
N: Number. IQR: Interquartile range. DHEA: Dehydroepiandrosterone. SHBG: Sex-hormone binding globulin. IGF: Insulin-like growth factor. IGF-1: Insulin-like growth factor-1. IGFBP-3: Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3. TNF-α: Tumor necrosis growth factor-alpha. IL-6: Interleukin-6. IL-8: Interleukin-8. IL-10: Interleukin-10. IFN-γ: Interferon gamma. CRP: C-reactive protein. nmol/L: Nanomoles per liter. pmol/L: Picomoles per liter. ng/mL: Nanograms per milliliter. pg/mL: Picograms per milliliter. g/d: Grams per day. mg/d: Milligrams per day. mcg/d: Micrograms per day. kg/m2: Kilograms per meters squared.
Physical activity was measured as total weighted minutes of walking, moderate- and vigorous-intensity recreation- and transport-related physical activity (MVPA) per week at the second follow-up wave. Insufficiently active was defined as < 150 total weighted minutes of MVPA per week, sufficiently active was defined as 150 to ≤ 300 total weighted minutes of MVPA per week, and highly active was defined as > 300 total weighted minutes of MVPA per week.
Age at menopause was measured for naturally postmenopausal women only, when the cessation of periods for 12 months was first documented (baseline, the first follow-up wave, or the second follow-up wave).
Missing data for normalized biomarkers are as follows: 1 for progesterone; 2 for estrone; 8 for estradiol; 1 for adiponectin; 4 for CRP. Missing data for other covariates include: 452 for age at menopause (including 49 naturally postmenopausal women).
Southern European Migrant status, socioeconomic disadvantage, education, smoking status, lifetime alcohol consumption, body mass index, dietary calcium intake and total carotenoid intake from diet were measured at baseline. Biomarker concentrations, age at blood collection and physical activity were measured at the second follow-up wave.