Table 1. Gender-specific mean value or prevalence of risk factors at baseline, based on the level of the sense of purpose experienced by the subjects.
| Level of the sense of purpose in life | Men | Women | ||||
| Low n = 477 |
High n = 355 |
P value | Low n = 504 |
High n = 282 |
P value | |
| Average age ± SD (years) | 55.2 ± 9.1 | 55.5 ± 9.1 | 0.775 | 56.0 ± 9.1 | 55.6 ± 9.7 | 0.580 |
| History of hypertension (%) | 18.9 | 11.5 | 0.004 | 14.7 | 13.5 | 0.642 |
| History of diabetes (%) | 3.1 | 3.4 | 0.850 | 2.8 | 3.9 | 0.390 |
| Smokers (%) | 75.3 | 69.6 | 0.068 | 3.6 | 1.4 | 0.079 |
| High level of perceived stress (%) | 19.1 | 21.2 | 0.464 | 21.2 | 22.0 | 0.805 |
| Average BMI ± SD (kg/m2) | 22.7 ± 2.5 | 23.2 ± 3.9 | 0.026 | 23.4 ± 3.1 | 23.3 ± 2.8 | 0.753 |
| Alcohol consumers (%) | 71.2 | 67.0 | 0.207 | 4.4 | 3.0 | 0.334 |
| Hours spent walking (over 30 min/day) (%) | 93.6 | 93.6 | 0.967 | 92.9 | 93.8 | 0.664 |
| Occupation (full-time workers) (%) | 74.6 | 79.1 | 0.132 | 35.3 | 39.4 | 0.250 |
The differences between groups were determined by the Student’s t test or chi-square analysis.
The numbers of missing values were as follows: for BMI, 31 men and 29 women with a low sense of purpose in life and 13 men and 9 women with a strong sense of purpose; for alcohol consumption, 33 men and 44 women with a low sense of purpose, and 19 men and 19 women with a strong sense of purpose; for the number of hours spent walking, 21 men and 22 women with a low sense of purpose, and 13 men and 9 women with a strong sense of purpose; for occupation, 29 men and 19 women with a low sense of purpose, and 10 men and 3 women with a strong sense of purpose.
SD: standard deviation; BMI: body mass index