Table 1. Comparison of baseline quality of life and other characteristics between the 141 deaths and 1598 survivors.
| Variables | Overall (n = 1739) | Deaths (n = 141) | Survivors☆ (n = 1,598) | P-values |
| Female (%) | 64.2 | 48.9 | 65.6 | <0.001 |
| Age group (%) | ||||
| 40–49 | 24.0 | 7.8 | 25.4 | |
| 50–59 | 35.1 | 17.7 | 36.7 | |
| 60–69 | 32.4 | 49.6 | 30.9 | |
| 70+ | 8.5 | 24.8 | 7.0 | <0.001 |
| Age, mean (SD) | 57.7 (8.4) | 63.8 (7.7) | 57.2 (8.2) | <0.001 |
| Educational level | ||||
| No school education | 15.5 | 32.6 | 14.0 | |
| Primary school | 33.1 | 38.3 | 32.7 | |
| Primary middle school | 45.7 | 26.2 | 47.4 | |
| High middle school or higher | 5.7 | 2.8 | 5.9 | <0.001 |
| Occupation | ||||
| Administrative | 3.6 | 1.4 | 3.8 | |
| Worker | 25.8 | 17.7 | 26.5 | |
| Farmer | 3.6 | 4.3 | 3.6 | |
| Houseworker at home | 45.7 | 53.2 | 45.0 | |
| Unemployed | 1.3 | 0.7 | 1.4 | |
| Retired | 20.0 | 22.7 | 19.8 | 0.112 |
| Married (%) | 87.1 | 80.1 | 87.7 | 0.010 |
| Smoking (%) | ||||
| Never | 54.1 | 34.8 | 55.8 | |
| Current | 30.3 | 34.8 | 29.9 | |
| Former | 15.6 | 30.5 | 14.3 | <0.001 |
| Alcohol drinker (%) | 28.2 | 34.8 | 27.7 | 0.073 |
| Diet | ||||
| Fruit intake> = 250 g/week (%) | 78.6 | 61.7 | 80.0 | <0.001 |
| Vegetable intake> = 250 g/day (%) | 88.7 | 78.0 | 89.7 | <0.001 |
| Physical exercises (%) | 48.0 | 45.4 | 48.2 | 0.753 |
| Hypertension (%) | 56.4 | 69.5 | 55.2 | 0.001 |
| Diabetes (%) | 14.4 | 14.9 | 14.4 | 0.871 |
| High cholesterol (%) | 50.5 | 49.6 | 50.6 | 0.834 |
| Obesity (%) | 28.2 | 26.2 | 28.3 | 0.594 |
| Past history of disease (%) | ||||
| Stroke | 7.5 | 19.1 | 6.5 | <0.001 |
| Myocardial infarction | 3.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 0.526 |
| Chronic respiratory diseases | 11.0 | 18.4 | 10.3 | 0.003 |
| Liver diseases | 5.2 | 7.1 | 5.0 | 0.284 |
| Kidney diseases | 4.0 | 4.3 | 3.9 | 0.855 |
| Cancer | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.457 |
| QOL scores, mean (SD)* | ||||
| Total HRQOL scores | 77.3 (11.7) | 70.9 (15.9) | 77.9 (11.1) | <0.001 |
| Domains | ||||
| General | 60.2 (16.7) | 56.3 (16.9) | 60.5 (16.7) | 0.005 |
| Physical | 77.0 (17.9) | 74.1 (21.2) | 77.2 (17.6) | 0.207 |
| Independence | 85.3 (14.7) | 73.3 (25.0) | 86.3 (12.9) | <0.001 |
| Psychological | 69.8 (16.5) | 64.8 (19.3) | 70.2 (16.2) | 0.001 |
| Social | 73.8 (15.9) | 71.4 (15.5) | 74.0 (15.9) | 0.043 |
| Environmental | 64.6 (19.8) | 65.0 (19.4) | 64.6 (19.8) | 0.965 |
| QOL transition item | 58.0 (24.2) | 56.1 (25.8) | 58.1 (24.0) | 0.461 |
☆Survivors include those lost to follow-up.
* p values for HRQOL were calculated by Wilcoxon rank test.
#p values for categorical variables were calculated by Chi-square test or Fisher's Exact Test.
∧ p values were calculated by t-test.
Abbreviations: HRQOL, quality of life; SD, standard deviation.
Definitions: Worker: in factory, shopping center, hotel, etc; Current smoking: at least one cigarette per day for at least the past year; Former smoker: having stopped smoking for at least the past month; Alcohol drinker: at least 1 drink/week; Physical exercise: at least 30 minutes/day for at least the past year; Hypertension: mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) > = 140 mm Hg and/or mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) > = 90 mm Hg (based on 3 measurements), or the use of antihypertensive drugs in the past 2 weeks; Diabetes mellitus (DM): fasting blood glucose > = 7.0 mmol/l or current use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic medication; Obesity: BMI> = 28 kg/m2; High cholesterol: fasting serum cholesterol> = 200 mg/dL.