Table 2.
Baseline characteristics of participants in the regions mainly consuming sour pickled vegetables (n = 105 372)*
| Characteristics | Frequency of preserved vegetable consumption |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Never
|
Monthly
|
1–3 day/week
|
4–6 day/week
|
Daily
|
Overall
|
| Number of participants |
10 621 |
16 575 |
44 886 |
16 134 |
17 156 |
105 372 |
| Usual preserved vegetable consumption (g/d) |
3.9 (1.3) |
7.5 (4.0) |
15.0 (5.1) |
23.0 (2.6) |
29.5 (5.5) |
15.0 (12.6) |
| Age (years) |
53.7 (18.9) |
49.8 (16.9) |
49.4 (16.8) |
50.8 (17.0) |
50.6 (16.2) |
50.4 (17.0) |
| Females (%) |
62.4 |
62.0 |
61.3 |
63.8 |
59.1 |
61.5 |
| Education ≥ middle school (%) |
30.0 |
33.3 |
30.6 |
25.6 |
35.7 |
31.0 |
| Household income ≥20 000 yuan/y (%) |
7.5 |
6.2 |
4.5 |
4.3 |
9.1 |
5.8 |
| Family history of cancer (%) |
11.3 |
10.8 |
10.2 |
11.1 |
14.3 |
11.2 |
| Ever smokers in males (%) |
87.0 |
87.4 |
87.1 |
88.7 |
90.0 |
87.9 |
| Ever smokers in females (%) |
21.4 |
11.1 |
7.7 |
8.6 |
18.1 |
11.4 |
| Weekly alcohol consumption in males (%) |
31.9 |
25.6 |
23.3 |
23.2 |
55.7 |
30.1 |
| Weekly alcohol consumption in females (%) |
4.3 |
2.5 |
2.2 |
2.4 |
7.7 |
3.4 |
| Regular consumption of foods (%) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh vegetable (daily)
|
96.1 |
86.0 |
82.3 |
78.3 |
97.1 |
86.1 |
|
Fresh fruit (>four days/week)
|
21.2 |
16.5 |
16.6 |
19.6 |
27.9 |
19.3 |
|
Meat (>four days/week)
|
37.2 |
27.4 |
24.4 |
25.5 |
49.8 |
30.5 |
|
Spicy food (daily)
|
53.9 |
54.7 |
54.0 |
55.5 |
74.4 |
57.6 |
| Total physical activity (MET-h/d) |
20.2 (16.1) |
23.8 (16.0) |
26.1 (16.3) |
26.3 (16.9) |
20.8 (16.0) |
24.4 (16.8) |
| BMI (kg/m2) |
22.9 (3.2) |
23.0 (3.2) |
23.0 (3.2) |
23.0 (3.2) |
23.3 (3.2) |
23.0 (3.2) |
| Waist circumference (cm) |
77.7 (9.2) |
78.7 (9.2) |
79.3 (9.3) |
79.3 (9.2) |
78.5 (9.1) |
78.9 (9.2) |
| Years of owning a refrigerator (years) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (1.0) | 0.0 (0.0) |
MET-h/d – metabolic equivalent task hours per day, BMI – body mass index
*The regions mainly consuming sour pickled vegetables included Sichuan and Gansu. For continuous variables, BMI and waist circumference were described as mean (standard deviation), and others were described as median (interquartile range). Categorical variables were described as percentages.