Table 1.

Cohort characteristics. Values are means (standard deviations) unless stated otherwise

Characteristics	Vasectomy group (n=326 607)	Non-vasectomy group (n=326 607)	Standardised difference
Patients
Age at index date	37.3 (6.15)	37.3 (6.24)	—
Comorbidity score (No (%)):			—
0-4	191 967 (58.8)	191 967 (58.8)
5-9	126 974 (38.9)	126 974 (38.9)
10-14	7611 (2.3)	7611 (2.3)
15-19	55 (0.0)	55 (0.0)
Rural (No (%))	47 398 (14.5)	48 291 (14.8)	—
Income fifth (No (%)):			0.15
1 (lowest)	40 772 (12.5)	55 500 (17.0)
2	56 209 (17.2)	61 775 (18.9)
3	69 943 (21.4)	68 555 (21.0)
4	80 908 (24.8)	74 270 (22.7)
5 (highest)	78 775 (24.1)	66 507 (20.4)
Health service used in year before index date
Visits to general practitioners	2.91 (3.11)	2.87 (4.28)	0.01
Visits to specialists	1.23 (2.32)	0.93 (3.08)	0.11
Visits to urologists	0.54 (0.59)	0.05 (0.37)	1.00
Admissions to hospitals	0.02 (0.14)	0.03 (0.21)	0.08
Visits to emergency departments	0.17 (0.56)	0.24 (0.73)	0.11
Colonoscopies	0.01 (0.11)	0.01 (0.11)	0.01
Faecal occult blood tests	0.01 (0.13)	0.01 (0.11)	0.03
Sexually transmitted infection tests	0.01 (0.16)	0.01 (0.16)	0.03
Cholesterol tests	0.29 (0.55)	0.25 (0.57)	0.06
Health service used between index date and end of follow-up (per year)
Visits to general practitioners	2.34 (2.62)	2.86 (4.07)	0.15
Visits to specialists	0.96 (1.92)	1.10 (2.45)	0.06
Visits to urologists	0.08 (0.28)	0.06 (0.41)	0.06
Admissions to hospitals	0.03 (0.25)	0.04 (0.36)	0.04
Visits to emergency departments	0.29 (0.49)	0.35 (0.94)	0.08
Colonoscopies	0.02 (0.06)	0.02 (0.06)	0.05
Faecal occult blood tests	0.03 (0.08)	0.03 (0.08)	0.0
Sexually transmitted infection tests	0.01 (0.05)	0.01 (0.09)	0.04
Cholesterol tests	0.30 (0.36)	0.33 (0.42)	0.09