Table 2. Characteristics of the subjects across quintiles (Q) of dietary pattern scores (n = 62,965)a.
| Taiwanese dietary patternb | Vegi-fruit dietary patternc,d | Meat-processed dietary patternc,e | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q3 | Q5 | Q1 | Q3 | Q5 | Q1 | Q3 | Q5 | |
| n | 22 672 | 11 797 | 7 814 | 13 803 | 13 212 | 9575 | 13 423 | 16 747 | 9508 |
| Dietary pattern score, range | -24 to -6 | -3 to -2 | 1 to 19 | 9 to 14 | 17 to 18 | 22 to 42 | 11 to 17 | 20 to 22 | 26 to 56 |
| Sex, % male | 55.7 | 50.1 | 47.0 | 53.8 | 52.4 | 50.7 | 39.9 | 52.4 | 65.4 |
| Age, years (SD) | 50.4 (9.3) | 52.8 (9.9) | 54.2 (10.1) | 52.0 (9.9) | 51.7 (9.7) | 52.9 (10.1) | 55.2 (10.3) | 51.4 (9.5) | 49.1 (8.8) |
| Education | |||||||||
| < High school, % | 23.4 | 28.9 | 29.1 | 32.5 | 24.7 | 23.2 | 39.4 | 23.6 | 17.8 |
| High school, % | 32.2 | 31.6 | 29.7 | 34.0 | 31.5 | 29.5 | 31.1 | 32.7 | 31.1 |
| > High school, % | 44.4 | 39.5 | 41.1 | 33.5 | 43.8 | 47.3 | 29.5 | 43.7 | 51.1 |
| Marital status | |||||||||
| Never married, % | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 3.1 | 2.8 |
| Married, % | 86.6 | 86.1 | 85.2 | 84.0 | 87.1 | 87.3 | 81.8 | 87.1 | 88.9 |
| Widows/divorced, % | 10.2 | 11.3 | 12.1 | 12.6 | 10.3 | 10.3 | 15.8 | 9.8 | 8.3 |
| Smokingf, % | 26.3 | 16.3 | 10.0 | 28.1 | 18.1 | 13.6 | 11.9 | 19.2 | 31.5 |
| drinking f, % | 22.9 | 17.0 | 11.7 | 21.7 | 18.1 | 16.5 | 11.9 | 18.9 | 26.9 |
| Physical activityf, % | 57.5 | 65.8 | 75.6 | 46.1 | 67.5 | 79.1 | 62.8 | 64.6 | 61.6 |
| Cardiovascular disease, % | 3.9 | 4.5 | 5.0 | 4.1 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 (SD) | 23.9 (3.3) | 23.7 (3.1) | 23.4 (3.2) | 23.9 (3.3) | 23.8 (3.2) | 23.7 (3.1) | 23.6 (3.2) | 23.8 (3.2) | 24.2 (3.3) |
| Waist circumference, cm (SD) | 80.1 (9.9) | 79.1 (9.4) | 78.3 (9.3) | 80.1 (10.0) | 79.4 (9.5) | 78.9 (9.4) | 78.2 (9.4) | 79.3 (9.5) | 81.5 (9.9) |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg (SD) | 122.2 (18.7) | 123.9 (19.5) | 124.5 (20.1) | 123.9 (19.7) | 122.7 (18.9) | 123.4 (19.4) | 125.7 (20.7) | 122.5 (19.0) | 121.8 (17.9) |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mm Hg (SD) | 73.7 (11.7) | 74.2 (11.7) | 73.9 (11.9) | 74.2 (12.0) | 73.8 (11.6) | 73.8 (11.7) | 70.9 (19.0) | 70.5 (18.9) | 71.2 (18.3) |
| Blood lipids | |||||||||
| Triacylglycerol, mmol/l (SD) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.3 (0.7) | 1.3 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.7) | 1.3(0.7) | 1.3 (0.7) | 1.3 (0.7) | 1.4 (0.8) |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/l (SD) | 5.2 (0.9) | 5.1 (0.9) | 5.0 (0.9) | 5.2 (0.9) | 5.3 (0.9) | 5.1(0.9) | 5.2 (0.9) | 5.1 (0.9) | 5.2 (0.9) |
| LDL-C, mmol/l (SD) | 3.2 (0.8) | 3.1 (0.8) | 2.9 (0.8) | 3.1 (0.8) | 3.1 (0.8) | 3.1(0.8) | 3.1 (0.8) | 3.0 (0.8) | 3.2 (0.8) |
| HDL-C, mmol/l (SD) | 1.4 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.4 (0.4) | 1.4 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.5 (0.4) | 1.4 (0.4) |
| C-reactive protein, nmol/l (SD) | 23.8 (45.3) | 23.9 (50.5) | 22.1 (42.8) | 25.9 (50.8) | 24.1 (54.8) | 21.8 (38.5) | 24.7 (54.7) | 23.6 (48.8) | 23.4 (40.1) |
| Fasting glucose, mmol/l (SD) | 3.9 (1.2) | 3.8 (1.1) | 3.6 (1.0) | 3.9 (1.2) | 3.8 (1.1) | 3.7 (1.1) | 3.7 (1.1) | 3.8 (1.1) | 4.0 (1.2) |
aData are expressed as range, %, or mean (SD). General linear regression was used to test for trend with dietary pattern treated as continuous explanatory variable, while χ2 test was employed for categorical variables across all quintile levels of dietary patterns.
bAll variables are significant at p < 0.001, except for CRP significant at p = 0.003 and diastolic blood pressure not significant at p = 0.355.
c Vegi-fruit and meat-processed dietary patterns are identified by principal component analysis, centered on 0 with a SD of 1.0.
dAll variables were significant at p < 0.001, except for systolic blood pressure (p = 0.834), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.729), and CVD (p = 0.544).
eAll variables significant at p < 0.001.
fSmoking: ≥ 1–3 times/ week; drinking: ≥ 1–2 times/week; physical activity: ≥ 1–2 hours/week.