Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics in Randomized Vitamin E and Placebo Treatment Groups in the Women’s Health Study.*
| Characteristics |
Vitamin E (n=19,697) |
Placebo (n=19,724) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean age, y | 54.5 | 54.5 | ||
| 45–54 | 60.7 | 60.6 | ||
| 55–64 | 29.5 | 29.4 | ||
| 65+ | 9.8 | 10.0 | ||
| Cigarette smoking | ||||
| Current | 13.1 | 13.3 | ||
| Past/Never | 86.9 | 86.7 | ||
| Alcohol use | ||||
| <1/wk | 58.5 | 58.0 | ||
| ≥1/wk | 41.5 | 42.0 | ||
| Body-mass index† | ||||
| Mean | 26.0 | 26.0 | ||
| <25.0 | 50.6 | 51.0 | ||
| 25.0–29.9 | 31.1 | 30.8 | ||
| ≥30.0 | 18.3 | 18.2 | ||
| Hypertension‡ | ||||
| Yes | 25.4 | 26.0 | ||
| No | 74.6 | 74.0 | ||
| Hyperlipidemia§ | ||||
| Yes | 29.1 | 29.5 | ||
| No | 70.9 | 70.5 | ||
| Diabetes mellitus | ||||
| Yes | 2.5 | 2.5 | ||
| No | 97.5 | 97.5 | ||
| Menopausal status and use of HT | ||||
| Premenopausal | 27.6 | 27.9 | ||
| Uncertain | 18.0 | 18.1 | ||
| Postmenopausal and current HT | 30.1 | 29.9 | ||
| Postmenopausal and no HT | 24.3 | 24.1 | ||
| Parental history of MI before 60 yrs of age | ||||
| Yes | 13.0 | 12.9 | ||
| No | 87.0 | 87.1 | ||
| Multivitamin use | ||||
| Current | 37.0 | 36.4 | ||
| Past/Never | 63.0 | 63.6 | ||
| Eye exam in past 2 yrs | ||||
| Yes | 82.6 | 82.8 | ||
| No | 17.4 | 17.2 | ||
Abbreviations: HT, hormone therapy; MI, myocardial infarction.
*
Data are given as the percentage of participants, unless otherwise indicated. Percentages may not total 100 because of rounding.
†
Body-mass index is the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters.
‡
Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure of at least 140 mm Hg, a diastolic blood pressure of at least 90 mm Hg, or self-reported physician-diagnosed hypertension.
§
Hyperlipidemia was defined as a total cholesterol of at least 240 mg per deciliter or self-reported physician-diagnosed high cholesterol levels.