Table 1. Participant characteristics.
| Non-hypertensive (N = 2322) | Hypertensive (N = 2337) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Normotensive | Pre-hypertensive | Unmedicated | Medicated | |
| N | 741 | 1581 | 1290 | 1047 |
| Baseline characteristics | ||||
| Age (yrs) | 59.0±7.1 | 61.0±7.5 | 63.1±7.0 | 65.6±6.2 |
| Male (%) | 21.6 | 46.4 | 53.3 | 58.2 |
| Educational level (%) | 52.0 | 47.9 | 41.9 | 41.1 |
| Body mass index | 24.5±3.5 | 26.1±4.0 | 27.0±4.4 | 28.5±4.6 |
| Ever smoked (%) | 52.0 | 53.4 | 53.9 | 56.4 |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 1.8 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 11.7 |
| Cardiovascular disease (%) | 1.2 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 9.3 |
| Blood pressures and antihypertensive medication | ||||
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 111.8±6.4 | 129.6±5.8 | 152.3±11.8 | 142.6±17.0 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 68.5±6.0 | 76.5±6.4 | 86.2±9.1 | 81.3±9.6 |
| Antihypertensive medication (%) | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 |
Continuous variables were expressed as means ± standard deviations.