Table 2. Characteristics of MS cases and healthy individuals by two stages.

	Men (Stage I)			Men (Stage II)			Women (Stage I)			Women (Stage II)
	Cases	Non-cases	p	Cases	Non-cases	p	Cases	Non-cases	p	Cases	Non-cases	p
	n = 1223	n = 5774		n = 3105	n = 4700		n = 3199	n = 10306		n = 4172	n = 5103
Age (years, ± SD)	57.3 ± 10.6	55.8 ± 12.7	<0.001	58.6 ± 13.4	52.2 ± 16.5	<0.001	57.4 ± 9.4	51.9 ± 12.1	<0.001	59.9 ± 13.7	49.1 ± 16.4	<0.001
Height (cm, ± SD)1	167.2 ± 6.6	165.7 ± 6.6	<0.001	166.3 ± 7.0	165.4 ± 7.1	<0.001	156.3 ± 5.9	155.6 ± 6.1	<0.001	155.6 ± 7.1	155.6 ± 6.8	0.643
Weight (kg, ± SD)1	74.8 ± 10.1	62.0 ± 10.0	<0.001	73.8 ± 10.8	65.1 ± 9.7	<0.001	65.5 ± 9.5	55.9 ± 9.0	<0.001	64.1 ± 10.3	58.1 ± 9.4	<0.001
BMI ( ± SD)1	26.7 ± 3.0	22.5 ± 3.1	<0.001	26.3 ± 3.3	23.8 ± 3.0	<0.001	26.8 ± 3.3	23.0 ± 3.3	<0.001	26.5 ± 3.7	24.0 ± 3.4	<0.001
Education (%)1
Primary/under	40.8	54.2		45.2	49.2		64.6	63.7		65.4	60.7
Middle	35.7	29.5		40.7	37.5		25.6	26.7		28.9	30.7
High/above	23.5	16.3	<0.001	14.1	13.3	<0.001	9.8	9.6	0.969	5.7	8.6	<0.001
Marital status (%)1
Yes	92.8	89.3		89.0	84.9		90.8	90.1		85.3	83.7
No2	7.2	10.8	0.002	11.0	15.2	<0.001	9.2	9.9	0.808	14.7	16.3	0.114
Farmer (%)1
Yes	46.1	59.3		62.5	63.6		69.4	69.6		77.3	73.8
No	53.9	40.7	<0.001	37.5	36.4	0.069	30.7	30.4	0.413	22.7	26.2	0.002
Ever smoker (%)1
Yes	45.8	48.1		49.7	48.5		3.6	4.0		2.2	1.9
No	54.1	51.9	0.125	50.3	51.5	0.348	96.4	96.0	0.168	97.8	98.1	0.399
Ever drinker (%)1
Yes	52.6	53.9		52.4	46.6		9.2	12.0		6.4	6.2
No	47.4	46.1	0.223	47.6	53.4	<0.001	90.8	88.0	<0.001	93.6	93.8	0.741
Exercise (%)1
Yes	22.5	21.7		18.4	13.1		20.4	20.4		14.7	12.7
No	77.5	78.3	0.615	81.6	86.9	<0.001	79.6	79.6	0.533	85.3	87.3	0.009
Diabetes (%)1
Yes	9.7	0.9		8.6	1.0		7.4	0.6		9.8	1.0
No	90.3	99.1	<0.001	91.4	99.0	<0.001	92.6	99.4	<0.001	90.2	99.0	<0.001
CVD (%)1
Yes	2.8	1.1		7.6	3.2		0.9	0.4		6.4	3.6
No	97.2	98.9	<0.001	92.4	96.8	<0.001	99.1	99.6	0.002	93.6	96.4	<0.001

¹means, percentages, and their p values were adjusted for age.

²Including widowed, divorced/separated and unmarried.