Table 4.

Baseline characteristics of the initial participants recruited

Characteristic	Cases		Controls		p value†
	N	Mean (SD) or  %	N	Mean (SD) or  %
Age (years)	4500	52.6 (10.4)	4500	50.4 (10.1)	Matched
Sex (%)
Males	3950	88	3935	87
Females	550	12	565	13	Matched
Tobacco consumption (%)
Never	630	15	1383	31
Ex	246	6	301	7
Current	3224	79	2811	63	<0.001
History of hypertension (%)
Yes	1090	24	470	10
No	3404	76	4027	90	<0.001
History of diabetes (%)
Yes	778	17	359	8
No	3716	83	4138	92	<0.001
Family history of MI ‡ (%)
Yes	597	13	267	6
No/Unknown	3903	87	4233	94	<0.001
Location (%)
Urban	1891	47	2183	49
Rural	2142	53	2282	51	0.065
Level of education reached (%)
No schooling	1390	34	1576	35
Primary	1269	31	1297	29
Secondary	944	23	1107	25
Vocation/University	454	11	518	12	0.093
Blood lipids measurements
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)	4188	5.14 (1.14)	4130	4.77 (1.00)	<0.001
LDL-C (mmol/l)	4188	3.19 (1.03)	4128	2.76 (0.86)	<0.001
HDL-C (mmol/l)	4188	0.85 (0.22)	4130	0.87 (0.22)	<0.001

^† p value obtained from t test for continuous variables or Chi squared test for categorical variables. ^‡ Mother and/or father

HDL-C high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, LDL-C low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, MI myocardial infarction