Table 1. Age-standardised baseline characteristics by level of BMI at baseline age in the cohort of 36 959 Swedish men aged 45–79 years.

	BMI at baseline age, kg m–2
Characteristics a	<21	21–22.9	23–24.9	25–27.4	27.5–29.9	⩾30
No. of subjects	1863	5123	9551	11 244	5597	3581
Age at baseline (mean, years)	60	59	59	59	59	59
BMI at age 30 years (mean, kg m–2)	20	21	22	23	24	26
History of diabetes (yes, %)	4	5	7	12	18	31
Family history of prostate cancer (yes, %)	7	7	6	6	7	6
Smoking status (%)
Current smoker	33	25	25	24	23	24
Former smoker	26	33	37	41	45	46
Never smoker	41	41	38	35	33	29
Physical activity (⩾45 MET-h per day, %)	20	21	21	20	18	16
Total energy intake (mean, kcal)	2813	2817	2773	2733	2720	2682
Years of education (>12 years, %)	24	23	20	17	14	12

Abbreviations: BMI=body mass index; MET=metabolic equivalent of task.

^aAll factors, except age and BMI at age 30 years, were directly standardised to the age distribution of the study participants. Percentages may not sum to 100 because of rounding.