Table 1. Study population characteristics at age 40 years, n=2608.

	Systolic blood pressure at age 40 years (mm Hg)				P value
	<120	120–129	130–139	≥140
N	711 (27%)	792 (30%)	617 (24%)	488 (19%)	<0.001
Female sex	551 (78%)	410 (52%)	228 (37%)	124 (25%)	<0.001
Age, years, mean±SD	40.1±0.3	40.1±0.3	40.0±0.3	40.0±0.3	0.887
Body mass index, kg/m2, mean±SD	23.1±2.8	24.3±3.2	25.1±3.3	25.8±3.5	<0.001
Obesity*	17 (2%)	46 (6%)	45 (7%)	48 (10%)	<0.001
Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg, mean±SD	112.8±5.5	124.8±2.8	134.4±2.8	148.9±8.2	<0.001
Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg, mean±SD	70.5±6.1	76.1±6.2	81.5±6.6	88.9±8.8	<0.001
Non-caucasian	13 (2%)	9 (1%)	8 (1%)	6 (1%)	0.680
Higher education†	320 (45%)	357 (45%)	274 (44%)	209 (43%)	0.886
Physical activity					<0.001
Sedentary activity	143 (20%)	130 (17%)	122 (20%)	89 (18%)	–
Walking or cycling at least 4 hours/week	464 (65%)	485 (61%)	338 (55%)	289 (59%)	–
Recreational sports at least 4 hours/week	95 (14%)	159 (20%)	140 (22%)	101 (21%)	–
Hard training several times per week	9 (1%)	18 (2%)	17 (3%)	9 (2%)	–
Smoking‡					0.906
Never	276 (39%)	311 (40%)	251 (41%)	193 (40%)	–
Current or previous	430 (61%)	472 (60%)	360 (59%)	290 (60%)	–
Cardiovascular comorbidity
Myocardial infarction or angina	3 (0.4%)	4 (0.5%)	3 (0.5%)	3 (0.6%)	0.974
Hypertension§	3 (0.4%)	5 (0.6%)	2 (0.3%)	26 (5.3%)	<0.001
Diabetes¶	1 (0.1%)	2 (0.3%)	0 (0%)	4 (0.8%)	0.054
Biomarkers
Cholesterol, mmol/L, mean±SD	5.2±0.9	5.4±1.0	5.6±1.0	5.8±1.1	<0.001
Triglycerides, mmol/L, mean±SD	1.4±0.9	1.6±1.1	1.9±1.3	2.2±1.8	<0.001

Obesity: body mass index ≥30 kg/m2, higher education: at least 4 years of college or university training.

^*1 missing value.

^†8 missing values.

^‡25 missing values.

^§3 missing values.

^¶2 missing values.