Table 1.

Risk factor definitions, availability and sample size

Risk factor	Description	Years	Respondents (N)a
Self-reported measures
Current cigarette smoking	Self-reported status.	1994-2008	181 619
Diabetes	Those reporting diabetes that was doctor-diagnosed, excluding women who had only had diabetes during pregnancy.	1994,1998, 2003,2006	59 071
Physical activity	High levels defined as spending 30 minutes or more of moderate or vigorous activity on at least five days per week. No account was taken of exercise at work.	1998,2003, 2006,2008	58 184
Fruit and vegetable consumption	Portions per day. Healthy eating defined as consuming five or more portions per day.	2001-8	91 225
Physical examination measurements
Obesity	Obesity defined as BMI 30 kg/m2 or more.	1994-2008	161 663
High blood pressure	Calculated as the mean of the 2nd and 3rd readings for those who had not eaten, consumed alcohol or smoked in the 30 minutes prior to measurement. High blood pressure defined as SBP at or greater than 140 mmHg.	All years except 1999 and 2004b	117 631
Raised cholesterol	Raised cholesterol defined as total cholesterol at or above 5.0 mmol/l. Those who reported taking lipid lowering drugs were included.	1994,1998, 2003, 2006,2008	44 743

^a Adults aged 16 and over

^b Owing to small sample sizes survey data from 1997 onwards was pooled by merging two consecutive years