Table 1.
Characteristics of Västerbotten Intervention Program participants, 1990–2007. There were highly significant differences (p<0.005) for all variables except marital status between 1990–1995 versus 1996–2001, and 1996–2001 versus 2002–2007 for men and women. Marital status differed between the two first periods for men (p=0.023) but not for women (p=0.92)
| Men | Women | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time period | 1990–1995 | 1996–2001 | 2002–2007 | 1990–1995 | 1996–2001 | 2002–2007 |
| Number of participants | 13,737 | 16,774 | 19,506 | 15,544 | 18,081 | 20,298 |
| Age (%) | ||||||
| 40 years | 37.9 | 32.7 | 32.0 | 37.2 | 32.8 | 31.7 |
| 50 years | 35.6 | 38.5 | 33.7 | 35.3 | 37.4 | 34.0 |
| 60 years | 26.5 | 28.8 | 34.4 | 27.4 | 29.8 | 34.3 |
| BMI, mean±SD | 25.9±3.4 | 26.4±3.5 | 26.8±3.9 | 25.2±4.2 | 25.7±4.4 | 25.9±4.7 |
| BMI categoriesa (%) | ||||||
| Overweight | 47.2 | 49.8 | 49.4 | 32.2 | 34.2 | 33.3 |
| Obese | 10.0 | 13.6 | 17.3 | 12.7 | 15.1 | 16.5 |
| Education (%) | ||||||
| Basic:≤9 years | 35.6 | 27.5 | 18.5 | 33.8 | 25.2 | 16.3 |
| Mid-level: 10–12 years | 45.5 | 51.6 | 56.8 | 42.7 | 46.1 | 48.9 |
| High:≥13 years | 18.9 | 20.8 | 24.7 | 23.6 | 28.7 | 34.8 |
| Marital status (%) | ||||||
| Married/cohabitant | 82.4 | 81.3 | 79.6 | 82.0 | 82.0 | 80.5 |
| Location of residenceb (%) | ||||||
| Medium-sized city | 38.3 | 34.1 | 40.4 | 39.5 | 36.2 | 41.9 |
| Small cities | 31.4 | 36.7 | 34.1 | 32.7 | 37.0 | 34.1 |
| Rural | 30.3 | 29.2 | 25.4 | 27.8 | 26.8 | 24.0 |
a
BMI: overweight 25–29.9 and obesity ≥30.
b
Location of residence: Umeå is a medium-sized city with administrative centers and a university. The small cities are Skellefteå and Lycksele, which are commercial and industrial centers. Rural is the remainder of the county and includes provincial municipalities and sparsely populated areas.