Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population as a whole and of the subsamples of subjects with and without self-reported physician-diagnosed hypertension.a
| Total study (n = 6,450) | Stratum by hypertensiona | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | No (n = 5,336) | Yes (n = 1,073) | p-Valueb | |||||
| Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||||||
| Sex (%) | ||||||||
| Male | 48.9 | 47.8 | 54.1 | |||||
| Female | 51.1 | 52.3 | 46.0 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Age (mean ± SD) | 52.0 ± 11.5 | 50.5 ± 11.3 | 60.3 ± 8.5 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Marital status (%) | ||||||||
| Married/widowed | 74.0 | 72.6 | 80.9 | |||||
| Divorced | 9.0 | 9.2 | 8.5 | |||||
| Single | 16.0 | 17.2 | 10.1 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Educational levelc (%) | ||||||||
| Low | 22.8 | 21.7 | 28.7 | |||||
| Medium | 59.6 | 60.4 | 55.3 | |||||
| High | 17.6 | 17.9 | 15.8 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Full-time employment (%) | 48.0 | 50.6 | 34.2 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Lifestyle characteristics | ||||||||
| Smoking (%) | ||||||||
| Never | 43.4 | 44.4 | 38.8 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Former | 31.6 | 30.0 | 39.7 | |||||
| Current | 24.9 | 25.5 | 21.5 | |||||
| BMI (mean ± SD) | 25.9 ± 4.4 | 25.3 ± 4.1 | 28.7 ± 4.6 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Alcohol use (%) | ||||||||
| Seldom/never | 30.8 | 30.8 | 30.8 | |||||
| Weekly | 44.6 | 46.3 | 35.6 | |||||
| Daily | 24.7 | 22.9 | 33.6 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Health status characteristics | ||||||||
| Blood pressure (mmHg) (mean ± SD) | ||||||||
| SBP | 127 ± 19.5 | 123 ± 18 | 142 ± 20 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| DBP | 80 ± 11.0 | 78 ± 10.5 | 89.9 ± 11 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Antihypertensive medication (%) | 11.3 | 4.0 | 47.7 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Pulse [counts/min (mean ± SD)] | 70 ± 10.5 | 70 ± 10 | 71 ± 12 | 0.273 | ||||
| Cholesterol [mmol/L (mean ± SD)] | 6.03 ± 1.3 | 6.01 ± 1.2 | 6.12 ± 1.5 | 0.008 | ||||
| Diabetesa (%) | 3.0 | 1.6 | 10.0 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| CVDa (%) | 7.7 | 53 | 19.9 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Hearing deficita (%) | 5.8 | 4.9 | 10.3 | < 0.0001 | ||||
| Self-reported noise exposure | ||||||||
| Noise exposure at workd (%) | 13.9 | 13.9 | 14.3 | 0.937 | ||||
| Noise annoyancee (%) | 10.1 | 10.6 | 10.2 | 0.605 | ||||
| aSelf-reported physician diagnosis. bDifference between strata. cBased on highest degree of schooling: low, primary school; medium, secondary school; high, technical schools or university. dSubjects answering “noise” to the question “Which substances were you working with during the last 3 years?” eHigh noise annoyance corresponds to > 6 on an 11-point scale asking for annoyance by traffic at home when windows are open. | ||||||||