Table 1.
Characteristics by diet group of participants in the EPIC-Oxford study who completed the second follow-up questionnaire (n=31 260)*
| Characteristics | Meat eaters | Fish eaters | Vegetarians | Vegans | Total |
| Number of participants (% female) | 18 155 (78.2) | 5012 (81.8) | 7179 (76.3) | 914 (66.1) | 31 260 (78.0) |
| Mean (SD) age at questionnaire completion, years | 58.9 (12.5) | 53.8 (12.5) | 51.6 (12.7) | 50.7 (12.3) | 56.1 (13.0) |
| Smoking status†, n (%) | |||||
| Never smoker | 10 073 (55.7) | 2786 (55.6) | 4339 (60.5) | 547 (59.9) | 17 745 (56.9) |
| Former smoker | 6927 (38.3) | 1961 (39.2) | 2460 (34.3) | 330 (36.1) | 11 678 (37.5) |
| Current smoker | 1094 (6.0) | 260 (5.2) | 367 (5.1) | 36 (3.9) | 1757 (5.6) |
| Mean (SD) alcohol consumption, g/day | 8.7 (9.3) | 8.2 (8.7) | 7.6 (8.9) | 6.7 (9.2) | 8.3 (9.1) |
| Self-reported current health†, n (%) | |||||
| Excellent | 3713 (21.9) | 1323 (28.1) | 1950 (28.7) | 325 (37.2) | 7311 (24.9) |
| Good | 9962 (58.8) | 2688 (57.0) | 3851 (56.6) | 446 (51.0) | 16 947 (57.8) |
| Fair | 2858 (16.9) | 612 (13.0) | 876 (12.9) | 80 (9.2) | 4426 (15.1) |
| Poor | 400 (2.4) | 92 (2.0) | 122 (1.8) | 23 (2.6) | 637 (2.2) |
| Townsend Deprivation Index†, n (%) | |||||
| Richest category | 4463 (27.6) | 984 (21.8) | 1542 (23.7) | 153 (18.3) | 7141 (25.5) |
| Poorest category | 3438 (21.2) | 1207 (26.8) | 1732 (26.7) | 285 (34.1) | 6662 (23.8) |
| In same diet group at recruitment, n (%) | 15 908 (87.7) | 3057 (61.1) | 6373 (89.1) | 573 (62.7) | 25 911 (83.0) |
| Taking medication in the past 4 weeks, n (%) | 10 196 (56.2) | 2105 (42.0) | 2829 (39.4) | 255 (27.9) | 15 385 (49.2) |
| Number of reported illnesses and conditions, n (%) | |||||
| None | 4455 (24.5) | 1635 (32.6) | 2603 (36.3) | 344 (37.6) | 9037 (28.9) |
| One | 4724 (26.0) | 1472 (29.4) | 2170 (30.2) | 291 (31.8) | 8657 (27.7) |
| Two | 3682 (20.3) | 906 (18.1) | 1261 (17.6) | 154 (16.8) | 6003 (19.2) |
| Three | 2404 (13.2) | 524 (10.5) | 630 (8.8) | 74 (8.1) | 3632 (11.6) |
| Four or more | 2890 (15.9) | 475 (9.5) | 515 (7.2) | 51 (5.6) | 3931 (12.6) |
| Reported high blood pressure†, n (%) | 4397 (29.2) | 686 (16.2) | 944 (15.2) | 85 (10.6) | 6112 (23.2) |
| and taking appropriate medication, n (%) | 2573 (58.5) | 357 (52.0) | 430 (45.6) | 40 (47.1) | 3400 (55.6) |
| Reported high blood cholesterol†, n (%) | 3351 (23.1) | 561 (13.5) | 645 (10.5) | 44 (5.5) | 4601 (18.0) |
| and taking appropriate medication, n (%) | 1646 (49.1) | 209 (37.3) | 243 (37.7) | 14 (31.8) | 2112 (45.9) |
| Reported asthma†, n (%) | 1885 (13.6) | 496 (12.1) | 758 (12.4) | 88 (11.1) | 3227 (12.9) |
| and taking appropriate medication, n (%) | 737 (39.1) | 169 (34.1) | 246 (32.5) | 17 (19.3) | 1169 (36.2) |
| Reported diabetes†, n (%) | 707 (5.2) | 75 (1.9) | 119 (2.0) | 7 (0.9) | 908 (3.7) |
| and taking appropriate medication, n (%) | 446 (63.1) | 41 (54.7) | 84 (70.6) | 6 (85.7) | 577 (63.5) |
| Reported thyroid disease†, n (%) | 1545 (11.1) | 380 (9.2) | 465 (7.6) | 56 (7.1) | 2446 (9.8) |
| and taking appropriate medication, n (%) | 1191 (77.1) | 273 (71.8) | 337 (72.5) | 37 (66.1) | 1838 (75.1) |
*Based on participant characteristics at the time of the second follow-up questionnaire (completed approximately 10 years from baseline, around 2007).
†Unknown for some participants.