Table 1. Age- and sex-adjusted baseline characteristics of the sub-cohort and the heart failure cases in EPIC-Potsdam.
| Sub-cohorta (n = 1,163) | |||||
| Tertiles of NT-proBNPb | |||||
| Characteristics | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Sub-cohorta | HF Casesc |
| (n = 385) | (n = 390) | (n = 388) | (n = 1,163) | (n = 197) | |
| NT-proBNP d, pg/ml | |||||
| Men | 25 (26) | 36 (24) | 184 (25) | 91 (15) | 190 (29) |
| Women | 31 (4) | 63 (4) | 148 (4) | 82 (5) | 222 (17) |
| Socio-demographics | |||||
| Agee, years | 47.4 (8.3) | 50.2 (9.1) | 53.8 (8.5) | 50.5 (9.0) | 59.0 (6.4) |
| Womene, % | 61.6 | 60.8 | 60.8 | 61.0 | 35.0 |
| Educational degree, % | |||||
| (No) vocational training | 38.8 | 38.4 | 37.2 | 38.3 | 41.4 |
| Technical college | 24.6 | 20.4 | 21.9 | 22.6 | 26.3 |
| University | 36.6 | 41.2 | 40.9 | 39.1 | 32.2 |
| Anthropometry | |||||
| BMId, kg/m2 | 26.6 (0.2) | 26.1 (0.2) | 25.8 (0.2) | 26.3 (0.1) | 28.0 (0.3) |
| Men | 27.2 (0.3) | 27.1 (0.3) | 26.6 (0.3) | 27.0 (0.2) | 28.4 (0.3) |
| Women | 26.1 (0.3) | 25.4 (0.3) | 25.2 (0.3) | 25.7 (0.2) | 28.3 (0.3) |
| Waist circumferenced, cm | |||||
| Men | 94.6 (0.8) | 95.0 (0.8) | 93.8 (0.8) | 94.9 (0.5) | 99.0 (0.9) |
| Women | 81.8 (0.7) | 79.8 (0.7) | 79.8 (0.7) | 80.9 (0.4) | 86.4 (1.4) |
| Waist to hip ratiod | |||||
| Men | 0.94 (0.01) | 0.95 (0.00) | 0.94 (0.01) | 0.95 (0.00) | 0.97 (0.01) |
| Women | 0.80 (0.00) | 0.79 (0.00) | 0.79 (0.00) | 0.80 (0.00) | 0.81 (0.01) |
| Lifestyle | |||||
| Physical activity, h/wk | 0.92 (0.09) | 1.10 (0.09) | 0.99 (0.09) | 0.98 (0.05) | 0.79 (0.12) |
| Alcoholic intake, g/d | 15.5 (0.8) | 15.6 (0.8) | 15.8 (0.8) | 15.6 (0.5) | 13.8 (1.2) |
| Smoking, % | |||||
| Never | 44.8 | 41.3 | 44.3 | 44.0 | 36.3 |
| Former | 34.6 | 36.9 | 35.7 | 35.6 | 34.9 |
| <20 cigarettes/day | 15.7 | 16.2 | 13.5 | 14.8 | 17.1 |
| ≥20 cigarettes/day | 4.9 | 5.6 | 6.5 | 5.6 | 11.7 |
| Medical history, % | |||||
| Diabetes mellitus | 5.5 | 2.1 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 19.3 |
| Hypertension | 49.1 | 46.9 | 58.3 | 53.0 | 64.7 |
| Hyperlipidemiaf | 29.9 | 27.7 | 30.4 | 30.7 | 42.6 |
| Coronary heart disease | 5.2 | 6.0 | 13.9 | 9.3 | 24.7 |
| Biomarkers, mg/dl | |||||
| hsCRP | 0.21 (0.02) | 0.19 (0.02) | 0.28 (0.02) | 0.23 (0.01) | 0.32 (0.03) |
| Creatinine | 0.82 (0.01) | 0.81 (0.01) | 0.83 (0.01) | 0.82 (0.01) | 0.88 (0.02) |
| Total cholesterol | 203 (1.8) | 197 (1.8) | 193 (1.8) | 199 (1.1) | 202 (2.7) |
| HDL cholesterol | 48.5 (0.7) | 50.0 (0.7) | 50.7 (0.7) | 49.6 (0.4) | 46.7 (0.1) |
Baseline characteristics are expresses as age- and sex-adjusted means (standard error) or percentages.
a the sub-cohort included 13 heart failure cases.
b tertiles of N-terminal pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) have been generated sex-specifically.
c included only participants, who became cases after baseline and where not in the sub-cohort.
d expressed as age-adjusted means (standard error).
e expressed as unadjusted means (standard deviation) or percentages.
f prevalent hyperlipidemia was defined by self-reporting of a confirmed diagnosis and/or the use of antihyperlipidemic drugs.