Table 1. Baseline characteristics of participants by lowest vs. highest quartile of three plant-based diet indices in the cohort.
| Variables | hPDI [n (%)] | uPDI [n (%)] | PDI [n (%)] | |||||
| Quartile 1 | Quartile 4 | Quartile 1 | Quartile 4 | Quartile 1 | Quartile 4 | |||
| PDI, overall plant-based diet index; hPDI, healthful plant-based diet index; uPDI, unhealthful plant-based diet index. | ||||||||
| Gender | ||||||||
| Male | 2,410 (53.72) | 1,452 (38.55) | 1,673 (40.49) | 1,645 (53.05) | 1,898 (50.00) | 1,216 (42.03) | ||
| Female | 2,076 (46.28) | 2,315 (61.45) | 2,459 (59.51) | 1,456 (46.95) | 1,898 (50.00) | 1,677 (57.97) | ||
| Age at baseline (year) | ||||||||
| 40−49 | 1,823 (40.64) | 1,615 (42.87) | 1,798 (43.51) | 1,261 (40.66) | 1,488 (39.20) | 1,281 (44.28) | ||
| 50−59 | 1,851 (41.26) | 1,522 (40.40) | 1,660 (40.17) | 1,271 (40.99) | 1,626 (42.83) | 1,141 (39.44) | ||
| 60−69 | 812 (18.10) | 630 (16.72) | 674 (16.31) | 569 (18.35) | 682 (17.97) | 471 (16.28) | ||
| Marital status | ||||||||
| Married | 4,153 (92.58) | 3,535 (93.84) | 3,899 (94.36) | 2,850 (91.91) | 3,501 (92.23) | 2,737 (94.61) | ||
| Unmarried/divorced/widowed | 333 (7.42) | 232 (6.16) | 233 (5.64) | 251 (8.09) | 295 (7.77) | 156 (5.39) | ||
| Educational status | ||||||||
| No education | 596 (13.29) | 675 (17.92) | 747 (18.08) | 392 (12.64) | 446 (11.75) | 570 (19.70) | ||
| Elementary school | 1,551 (34.57) | 1,400 (37.16) | 1,484 (35.91) | 1,113 (35.89) | 1,439 (37.91) | 937 (32.39) | ||
| Middle school and above | 2,339 (52.14) | 1,692 (44.92) | 1,901 (46.01) | 1,596 (51.47) | 1,911 (50.34) | 1,386 (47.91) | ||
| No. of family members | ||||||||
| 1−2 | 1,033 (23.03) | 765 (20.31) | 832 (20.14) | 701 (22.61) | 885 (23.31) | 574 (19.84) | ||
| 3 | 821 (18.30) | 750 (19.91) | 832 (20.14) | 531 (17.12) | 698 (18.39) | 584 (20.19) | ||
| 4 | 1,456 (32.46) | 1,269 (33.69) | 1,395 (33.76) | 1,051 (33.89) | 1,253 (33.01) | 993 (34.32) | ||
| 5 | 749 (16.70) | 671 (17.81) | 717 (17.35) | 520 (16.77) | 638 (16.81) | 486 (16.80) | ||
| ≥6 | 427 (9.52) | 312 (8.28) | 356 (8.62) | 298 (9.61) | 322 (8.48) | 256 (8.85) | ||
| Annual income (CNY/person) | ||||||||
| ≤5,000 | 1,538 (34.28) | 1,091 (28.96) | 1,133 (27.42) | 1,114 (35.92) | 1,366 (35.99) | 848 (29.31) | ||
| >5,000 | 2,948 (65.72) | 2,676 (71.04) | 2,999 (72.58) | 1,987 (64.08) | 2,430 (64.01) | 2,045 (70.69) | ||
| BMI (kg/m2) | ||||||||
| <18.5 | 149 (3.32) | 125 (3.32) | 144 (3.48) | 108 (3.48) | 161 (4.24) | 112 (3.87) | ||
| 18.5−23.9 | 2,649 (59.05) | 2,022 (53.68) | 2,234 (54.07) | 1,797 (57.95) | 2,136 (56.27) | 1,616 (55.86) | ||
| 24.0−27.9 | 1,355 (30.21) | 1,266 (33.61) | 1,372 (33.20) | 956 (30.83) | 1,197 (31.53) | 941 (32.53) | ||
| ≥28.0 | 333 (7.42) | 354 (9.40) | 382 (9.24) | 240 (7.74) | 302 (7.96) | 224 (7.74) | ||
| Smoking status | ||||||||
| No | 2,793 (62.26) | 3,075 (81.63) | 3,343 (80.91) | 1,932 (62.30) | 2,556 (67.33) | 2,298 (79.43) | ||
| Yes | 1,693 (37.74) | 692 (18.37) | 789 (19.09) | 1,169 (37.70) | 1,240 (32.67) | 595 (20.57) | ||
| History of digestive diseases | ||||||||
| No | 3,854 (85.91) | 3,347 (88.85) | 3,633 (87.92) | 2,679 (86.39) | 3,313 (87.28) | 2,514 (86.90) | ||
| Yes | 632 (14.09) | 420 (11.15) | 499 (12.08) | 422 (13.61) | 483 (12.72) | 379 (13.10) | ||
| Family history of cancer | ||||||||
| No | 3,104 (69.19) | 2,622 (69.60) | 2,867 (69.39) | 2,179 (70.27) | 2,700 (71.13) | 2,084 (72.04) | ||
| Yes | 1,382 (30.81) | 1,145 (30.40) | 1,265 (30.61) | 922 (29.73) | 1,096 (28.87) | 809 (27.96) | ||