Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of Whitehall II Study Participants by Level of Physical Activity (2008–2009)
| Physical Activity | P Valuea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Medium | High | ||
| Men | ||||
| N | 861 | 627 | 2309 | |
| Age (y) | 65.0 (5.9) | 65.4 (6.1) | 65.7 (5.6) | 0.006 |
| White ethnicity (%) | 785 (91.2%) | 569 (90.8%) | 2209 (95.7%) | <0.001 |
| PWV, m/s | 8.7 (2.0) | 8.6 (2.1) | 8.5 (2.0) | 0.03 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 124.7 (15.0) | 125.8 (15.4) | 125.6 (14.9) | 0.09 |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/L | 5.0 (1.1) | 5.0 (1.0) | 5.1 (1.0) | 0.28 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 26.7 (4.1) | 26.4 (3.8) | 26.2 (3.5) | 0.001 |
| Waist circumference, cm | 96.0 (11.2) | 94.9 (10.4) | 93.8 (9.7) | <0.001 |
| Smoking | <0.001 | |||
| Current | 70 (8.2%) | 42 (6.7%) | 106 (4.6%) | |
| Former | 380 (44.2%) | 289 (46.2%) | 1172 (50.8%) | |
| Never | 409 (47.6%) | 295 (47.1%) | 1030 (44.6%) | |
| Daily alcohol consumption | 417 (49.1%) | 286 (45.9%) | 1253 (54.7%) | <0.001 |
| History of cardiovascular disease | 108 (12.5%) | 63 (10.1%) | 251 (10.9%) | 0.27 |
| History of diabetes mellitus | 34 (4.0%) | 16 (2.6%) | 56 (2.4%) | 0.07 |
| Antihypertensive medication | 329 (38.2%) | 228 (36.4%) | 747 (32.4%) | 0.004 |
| Women | ||||
| N | 426 | 295 | 666 | |
| Age | 65.3 (5.9) | 66.0 (6.0) | 65.3 (5.7) | 0.22 |
| White ethnicity (%) | 345 (81.0%) | 259 (87.8%) | 606 (91.0%) | <0.001 |
| PWV, m/s | 8.4 (2.2) | 8.4 (2.1) | 8.1 (1.8) | 0.007 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 122.1 (16.1) | 122.3 (17.1) | 121.6 (17.1) | 0.16 |
| Total cholesterol, mmol/L | 5.4 (1.1) | 5.4 (1.1) | 5.6 (1.0) | 0.61 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 27.3 (5.5) | 26.5 (4.9) | 26.4 (4.9) | 0.01 |
| Waist circumference, cm | 85.9 (12.7) | 84.2 (11.5) | 83.3 (11.8) | 0.002 |
| Smoking | 0.19 | |||
| Current | 17 (4.0%) | 20 (6.8%) | 28 (4.2%) | |
| Former | 156 (36.7%) | 106 (36.2%) | 267 (40.2%) | |
| Never | 252 (59.3%) | 167 (57.0%) | 370 (55.6%) | |
| Daily alcohol consumption | 113 (27.1%) | 92 (31.6%) | 236 (35.8%) | 0.01 |
| History of cardiovascular disease | 42 (9.9%) | 22 (7.5%) | 44 (6.6%) | 0.14 |
| History of diabetes mellitus | 20 (4.7%) | 9 (3.1%) | 16 (2.4%) | 0.07 |
| Antihypertensive medication | 148 (34.7%) | 98 (33.2%) | 193 (29.0%) | 0.11 |
PWV indicates pulse wave velocity. Values are mean (SD) for continuous variables, or numbers (%) for categorical variables.
a
P for linear trend.