Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study participants.
| Women | Men | |||
| Variablea |
Cases (n = 245) |
Cohort sample (n = 797) |
Cases (n = 786) |
Cohort sample (n = 906) |
| Age at entry (yrs) | 60 (52–65) | 56 (51–64) | 58 (51–65) | 56 (51–64) |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 26.4 (20.1–35.2) | 24.6 (19.7–33.7) | 26.9 (22.4–34.1) | 26.3 (21.6–32.4) |
| Waist (cm) | 86 (69–107) | 80 (67–105) | 97 (83–117) | 95 (82–113) |
| Diabetesb | ||||
| Yes | 5.3% | 1.0% | 5.4% | 2.3% |
| No | 90.2% | 94.3% | 88.5% | 91.7% |
| Unknown | 4.5% | 4.7% | 6.1% | 6.0% |
| Hypercholesterolemiab | ||||
| Yes | 16.9% | 6.1% | 12.1% | 9.7% |
| No | 44.0% | 48.4% | 45.4% | 52.0% |
| Unknown | 39.1% | 45.5% | 42.5% | 38.3% |
| Hypertension | ||||
| Yes | 40.0% | 15.5% | 22.2% | 13.1% |
| No | 51.8% | 74.9% | 61.0% | 72.4% |
| Unknown | 8.2% | 9.6% | 16.8% | 14.5% |
| Postmenopausal | ||||
| Yes | 70.2% | 57.8% | N/A | N/A |
| No | 5.3% | 17.5% | ||
| Unknown | 24.5% | 24.7% | ||
| HRT use | ||||
| Current | 26.5% | 31.7% | N/A | N/A |
| Former | 22.5% | 15.7% | ||
| Never | 51.0% | 52.6% | ||
| Smoking | ||||
| Current | 59.2% | 36.8% | 59.3% | 37.3% |
| Former | 16.3% | 21.4% | 26.5% | 35.4% |
| Never | 24.5% | 41.8% | 14.2% | 27.3% |
| Alcohol (g/d) | 6 (0–38) | 9 (0–40) | 17 (1–72) | 20 (1–83) |
| Plasma lipids (mmol/L) | ||||
| Triglycerides | 1.8 (0.9–4.7) | 1.3 (0.7–3.2) | 2.1 (0.9–5.3) | 1.7 (0.8–4.4) |
| Cholesterol | 6.5 (4.8–8.6) | 6.0 (4.5–7.9) | 6.3 (4.6–8.1) | 5.9 (4.6–7.7) |
| HDL-C | 1.6 (1.1–2.2) | 1.8 (1.2–2.6) | 1.3 (1.0–1.9) | 1.4 (1.0–2.1) |
a) Medians (5th and 95th percentiles) of continuous covariates. All lipids were obtained from non-fasting participants (n = 2610) b) Diagnosed with hypercholesterolemia.