Table 1.
Age-standardized Characteristics of Person-years by Level of Total Physical Activity in HPFS over 1986-2012
| Total Physical Activity (MET-hours/week)
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristicsa | ≤ 8.9 | 9-20.9 | 21-41.9 | 42-62.9 | 63+ |
| No. of person-years | 153,020 | 172,674 | 196,381 | 96,922 | 67,927 |
| Selected physical activity, mean (SD), MET-hours/week | |||||
| Total physical activity | 4.2(2.7) | 14.8(3.5) | 30.4(5.9) | 51.3(6.0) | 88.5(33.1) |
| Aerobic physical activity | 3.4(2.5) | 12.0(4.5) | 24.5(8.4) | 41.3(13.1) | 72.7(37.7) |
| Weight lifting | 0.2(0.7) | 0.8(2.1) | 1.7(3.5) | 2.7(4.7) | 4.3(7.4) |
| Walking at average/brisk/very brisk pace | 2.2(2.1) | 6.3(4.7) | 10.8(8.5) | 16.2(13.9) | 20.6(16.9) |
| Jogging | 0.2(0.8) | 1.0(2.4) | 2.0(4.1) | 3.1(6.1) | 5.4(11.5) |
| Running | 0.1(0.5) | 0.9(2.8) | 3.5(7.1) | 7.5(12.8) | 19.0(28.8) |
| Average MET score, b mean (SD), MET | 3.1(1.6) | 4.1(1.7) | 4.6(2.0) | 5.0(2.2) | 5.6(2.4) |
| Age, mean (SD), years | 60.0(10.0) | 61.6(9.9) | 62.6(10.0) | 63.3(10.1) | 63.1(10.2) |
| Caucasian, % | 93 | 95 | 95 | 96 | 95 |
| BMI, mean (SD), kg/m2 | 26.2(3.7) | 25.8(3.2) | 25.4(2.9) | 25.3(3.0) | 25.0(3.0) |
| Smoking status, % | |||||
| Never smokers | 45 | 47 | 48 | 50 | 51 |
| Past smokers | 42 | 43 | 43 | 42 | 40 |
| Current smokers | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| History of diabetes, % | 8 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| Family history of cancer,c % | 33 | 36 | 39 | 38 | 38 |
| Physical examination for screening purpose, % | 42 | 53 | 57 | 57 | 56 |
| Current aspirin use, % | 41 | 51 | 56 | 55 | 55 |
| Current multivitamin use, % | 34 | 44 | 48 | 49 | 49 |
| Dietary intake, mean (SD) | |||||
| Total calories, kcal/day | 1897(565) | 1929(537) | 1984(541) | 2044(558) | 2121(579) |
| Alcohol, g/day | 10.1(15.0) | 10.6(13.4) | 11.1(13.1) | 11.7(13.4) | 11.5(13.3) |
| Red/processed meat, servings/day | 1.2(0.8) | 1.1(0.7) | 1.0(0.7) | 1.0(0.7) | 1.0(0.8) |
| Whole grains, servings/day | 1.3(1.1) | 1.4(1.1) | 1.5(1.1) | 1.6(1.2) | 1.8(1.3) |
| Fruit, servings/day | 2.1(1.4) | 2.3(1.4) | 2.5(1.4) | 2.8(1.5) | 3.1(1.7) |
| Vegetables, servings/day | 2.8(1.5) | 3.1(1.5) | 3.3(1.5) | 3.5(1.6) | 3.8(1.8) |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index; MET, metabolic equivalent task
Note: Smoking status does not sum up to 100% due to missing category.
a
All values, except age, are standardized to the age distribution of the study population during follow-up.
b
Weighted average of MET values of walking (at normal, brisk, or very brisk pace), jogging, and running using weekly hours spent for each activity as the weight.
c
Family history of cancer was defined based on colorectal, pancreatic, lung, prostate, breast, and skin cancers among father, mother, and siblings.