Table 2.

Baseline characteristics (mean or % distribution) by quartiles of serum ghrelin concentration in the 523 controls from the ATBC Study.

Characteristics	Q1 (< 576 pg/ml)	Q2 (577–713 pg/ml)	Q3 (714–925 pg/ml)	Q4 (> 925 pg/ml)	Ptrend1
N	130	131	131	131
Age at baseline	57	57	57	56	0.30
Education: post-elementary school, N (%)2	18 (21)	17 (20)	30 (36)	19 (23)	0.41
Years of smoking	35	35	34	36	0.33
Cigarettes/day	18	20	18	21	0.10
Physically active, N (%)2	28 (25)	24 (21)	38 (34)	23 (20)	0.94
BMI, kg/m2	26	27	26	26	0.31
Self-reported history of diabetes, N (%)2	4 (24)	6 (35)	5 (29)	2 (12)	0.43
Blood glucose ≥ 126 mg/dL, N (%)2	0	1	0	0	0.65
Ever daily use of analgesics, N (%)2	16 (24)	13 (20)	18 (27)	19 (29)	0.45
Alcohol intake, g/day	15	18	14	17	0.35
Red meat, g/day	74	68	71	70	0.62
Processed meat, g/day	82	83	72	89	0.74
Fruit intake, g/day	255	230	219	208	0.04
Vegetables, g/day	322	307	317	295	0.11
Fiber intake g/day	20	19	19	20	0.65
Total energy intake (kcal)	2758	2718	2653	2791	0.59

¹Mantel-Haenszel trend test for categorical variables and a non-parametric Wilcoxon-type test for trend for continuous variables ¹⁶

²Percentages are row percents