TABLE 1—
Characteristics at Baseline Among Men and Women Included and Excluded From the Analyses: Quebec City, 1991–2003
| Men | Women | |||||
| Included (n = 3483) | Excludeda (n = 581) | P | Included (n = 3236) | Excludeda (n = 802) | P | |
| Mean age, y | 41.0 | 40.7 | .600 | 38.0 | 38.6 | .052 |
| Percentage in age group, y | <.001 | <.001 | ||||
| ≥45 | 31.9 | 39.6 | 16.9 | 25.4 | ||
| 35–44 | 46.6 | 30.1 | 50.9 | 40.3 | ||
| < 35 | 21.5 | 30.3 | 32.2 | 34.3 | ||
| Baseline job strain category, % | .552 | .949 | ||||
| Exposed | 17.8 | 18.4 | 23.8 | 22.9 | ||
| Active | 28.0 | 25.1 | 15.4 | 15.3 | ||
| Passive | 34.9 | 36.9 | 48.7 | 49.8 | ||
| Unexposed | 19.4 | 19.5 | 12.1 | 12.0 | ||
| Low social support at work,b % | 57.7 | 60.0 | .533 | 56.4 | 61.5 | .172 |
| Mean no. of years working for organization | 10.6 | 10.3 | .448 | 9.8 | 9.5 | .407 |
| Education (highest level completed), % | .187 | .009 | ||||
| High school or less | 13.2 | 15.9 | 43.6 | 49.6 | ||
| Collegec | 26.0 | 24.8 | 30.4 | 27.6 | ||
| University | 60.8 | 59.3 | 26.1 | 22.8 | ||
| Mean systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 121.4 | 123.0 | <.001 | 110.8 | 112.2 | .009 |
| Mean diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 76.4 | 76.5 | .037 | 70.3 | 70.8 | .195 |
| Cardiovascular risk factors, % | ||||||
| Daily smoking | 15.5 | 20.9 | <.001 | 19.6 | 27.1 | <.001 |
| Sedentary behavior | 36.2 | 37.1 | .701 | 46.3 | 46.4 | .960 |
| Overweightd | 51.5 | 57.2 | .011 | 27.1 | 31.1 | .025 |
| Abdominal obesitye | 15.5 | 25.9 | .031 | 14.3 | 13.3 | .788 |
Note. P values are for Student t statistics for comparisons of means and χ2statistics for comparisons of percentages between included and excluded workers. aExcluded for technical reasons (refused to participate at follow-up, lost to follow-up, incomplete data for blood pressure or job strain). bSocial support at work was measured with 1052 included and 215 excluded men and 947 included and 217 excluded women at baseline. cIn the province of Quebec, college refers to preuniversity or vocational studies. dOverweight was defined as a body mass index of 25 kg/m2 or above. eAbdominal obesity was defined as waist circumferences above 102 cm for men and 89 cm for women.