Table 1. Baseline age-adjusted characteristics of participants by frequency of bowel movements in the Nurses’ Health Study (1982).
| Frequency of bowel movements | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| More than once per day(n = 8969) | Daily(n = 54264) | Every Other day(n = 15641) | Every 3–4 days(n = 6348) | Every 5 days or less(n = 1067) | |
| Age, years* | 49.0 (7.1) | 48.6 (7.2) | 47.0 (7.1) | 47.0 (7.1) | 47.3 (7.0) |
| Caucasian, % | 98.0 | 97.6 | 97.3 | 97.1 | 97.0 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 26.4 (5.9) | 24.6 (4.5) | 24.2 (4.0) | 24.1 (3.9) | 24.0 (3.8) |
| Physical activity, h/week | 2.5 (2.3) | 2.4 (2.2) | 2.3 (2.1) | 2.1 (2.0) | 2.2 (2.1) |
| Alcohol, g/d† | 6.9 (12.2) | 6.6 (10.7) | 5.6 (9.1) | 5.4 (9.1) | 5.6 (9.7) |
| Premenopausal, % | 45.1 | 48.4 | 47.9 | 45.3 | 44.7 |
| Postmenopausal, never used hormone, % | 30.6 | 30.3 | 30.0 | 31.0 | 31.5 |
| Postmenopausal, past hormone user, % | 10.6 | 9.5 | 9.9 | 11.3 | 11.9 |
| Postmenopausal, current hormone user, % | 13.8 | 11.8 | 12.2 | 12.4 | 11.9 |
| Never smoking, % | 43.8 | 43.3 | 46.2 | 44.9 | 44.8 |
| Past smoking, % | 29.1 | 28.5 | 30.5 | 30.4 | 29.1 |
| Current smoking, % | 27.0 | 28.0 | 23.1 | 24.4 | 26.1 |
| Aspirin use, % | 45.0 | 43.1 | 47.0 | 50.0 | 50.5 |
| Other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug use, % | 6.9 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 7.1 |
| Multivitamin use, % | 44.3 | 41.0 | 39.1 | 36.0 | 36.5 |
| Thiazide diuretics use% | 16.8 | 12.7 | 12.5 | 12.6 | 13.8 |
| Thyroid hormone use, % | 12.1 | 9.2 | 8.2 | 7.4 | 7.9 |
| Family history of myocardial infarction, % | 20.4 | 19.0 | 18.1 | 19.3 | 19.5 |
| Hypertension, % | 25.4 | 18.2 | 16.5 | 16.0 | 15.8 |
| Hypercholesterolemia, % | 8.0 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.8 |
| Diabetes, % | 4.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.7 |
| Ulcerative colitis, % | 3.3 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.0 |
| Cholecystectomy, % | 13.3 | 6.8 | 7.1 | 7.7 | 8.0 |
| Total energy intake, kcal/d† | 1657.1 (524.0) | 1571.1 (495.0) | 1526.9 (491.9) | 1513.3 (494.4) | 1484.4 (516.5) |
| Total fiber intake (energy-adjusted), g/d† | 16.2 (5.0) | 16.4 (4.9) | 16.4 (4.8) | 16.1 (4.8) | 16.2 (5.1) |
| Total red meat intake, serving/d† | 1.5 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.8) | 1.4 (0.8) |
| Fruit intake, serving/d† | 2.1 (1.5) | 2.1 (1.4) | 2.0 (1.4) | 1.9 (1.3) | 1.8 (1.3) |
| Vegetable intake, serving/d† | 2.0 (1.2) | 2.0 (1.1) | 1.9 (1.1) | 1.8 (1.1) | 1.8 (1.2) |
| Coffee consumption, serving/d† | 2.1 (2.0) | 2.2 (1.9) | 2.2 (1.9) | 2.3 (2.0) | 2.3 (2.0) |
| Alternate Healthy Eating Index score† | 33.7 (9.2) | 34.0 (8.9) | 33.9 (8.6) | 33.4 (8.5) | 33.5 (8.6) |
| Laxative use weekly to daily, % | 3.8 | 4.1 | 8.9 | 15.5 | 22.4 |
*Value is not age-adjusted.
†Dietary intakes were estimated with food-frequency questionnaire in 1980.
Values are means (SD) or percentages and are standardized to the age distribution of the study population.