Table 2. Characteristics of study participants in the 1957–1964 birth cohort from Zhongshan and Nanhai municipalities, Guangdong province, China.
| All subjects (n = 12065) | Men (n = 5916) | Women (n = 6149) | P* | |
| Age (years) | 49.1±2.5 | 49.1±2.4 | 49.1±2.5 | 0.89 |
| Education, ≥high school graduation | 2233 (18.6) | 1392 (23.6) | 841 (13.7) | <0.0001 |
| Occupations involving physical labor | 5692 (47.2) | 2659 (45.0) | 3033 (49.3) | <0.0001 |
| Smoking (yes) | 3399 (28.2) | 3218 (54.4) | 181 (2.9) | <0.0001 |
| Alcohol drink (≥1 drink/month) | 780 (6.5) | 742 (12.6) | 38 (0.6) | <0.0001 |
| Physical activity (≥ 1/week) | 4130 (34.2) | 1950 (33.0) | 2180 (35.5) | 0.004 |
| Preference for salty foods | 2380 (19.7) | 1045 (17.7) | 1335 (21.7) | <0.0001 |
| Residence in urban areas | 3977 (33.0) | 1788 (30.2) | 2189 (35.6) | <0.0001 |
| Weight (kg) | 60.6±9.6 | 64.9±8.8 | 56.5±8.3 | <0.0001 |
| Height (cm) | 161.9±7.5 | 167.3±5.5 | 156.9±5.3 | <0.0001 |
| Short stature (<10th percentile) | 1239 (10.9) | 616 (11.2) | 623 (10.6) | 0.32 |
| Body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) | 23.1±3.1 | 23.2±2.9 | 22.9±3.2 | <0.0001 |
| BMI grouping | 0.72 | |||
| <18.5 (underweight) | 1224 (10.2) | 599 (10.1) | 625 (10.2) | |
| 18.5–23.9 (normal weight) | 6972 (57.8) | 3434 (58.1) | 3538 (57.5) | |
| 24.0–27.9 (overweight) | 3179 (26.4) | 1559 (26.4) | 1620 (26.4) | |
| ≥28.0 (obese) | 690 (5.7) | 324 (5.5) | 366 (6.0) | |
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg | 123.6±13.7 | 125.3±12.7 | 122.0±14.5 | <0.0001 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg | 79.0±8.7 | 80.1±8.4 | 78.0±8.8 | <0.0001 |
| Hypertension | 1693 (14.0) | 824 (13.9) | 869 (14.1) | 0.75 |
| Anti-hypertensive medication | 477 (4.0) | 198 (3.4) | 279 (4.5) | 0.001 |
Data presented are mean±SD for continuous variables, and n (%) for frequency variables.
*
P values in t tests for differences in means or Chi-square tests for differences in proportions between men and women.