Table 1.
Age-Standardized Characteristics of Female Participants at Age 55 Years, by Body Shape Trajectory Over the Life Course, Nurses’ Health Study (n = 84,792), 1976a
| Characteristic | Trajectory of Body Shape From Age 5 Years to Age 55 Years | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lean-Stable (n = 12,861) | Medium-Stable (n = 25,652) | Lean-Moderate Increase (n = 19,324) | Lean-Marked Increase (n = 15,612) | Heavy-Increase (n = 11,343) | ||||||
| % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | % | Mean (SD) | |
| Physical activity, MET-hours/week | 19.5 (22.0) | 17.0 (18.1) | 16.0 (18.4) | 13.0 (15.0) | 12.3 (13.7) | |||||
| Alcohol intake, g/day | 7.7 (10.6) | 7.1 (10.1) | 6.3 (9.4) | 4.6 (8.3) | 4.3 (8.1) | |||||
| Never smoker | 41.3 | 41.4 | 45.5 | 48.7 | 42.6 | |||||
| Pack-years of smoking | 14.7 (20.2) | 14.3 (19.7) | 12.7 (18.6) | 11.9 (18.7) | 14.5 (20.4) | |||||
| AHEI score | 44.3 (9.60) | 44.5 (9.0) | 42.9 (8.8) | 42.2 (8.4) | 42.8 (8.7) | |||||
| Current aspirin user | 41.7 | 46.1 | 45.8 | 53.1 | 55.9 | |||||
| Current MHT user | 44.2 | 41.1 | 38.8 | 31.3 | 31.0 | |||||
| Family history of diabetes | 23.4 | 27.3 | 30.1 | 36.6 | 36.8 | |||||
| Family history of CHD | 24.3 | 26.1 | 26.8 | 28.6 | 29.3 | |||||
| Hypertension | 20.4 | 27.3 | 32.2 | 49.3 | 53.8 | |||||
| Type 2 diabetes | 1.9 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 10.8 | 13.8 | |||||
| Hypercholesterolemia | 20.6 | 25.8 | 28.3 | 30.8 | 29.1 | |||||
| Cancer | 4.0 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 5.0 | 4.8 | |||||
| Cardiovascular disease | 4.0 | 4.7 | 5.7 | 9.1 | 9.1 | |||||
Abbreviations: AHEI, Alternate Healthy Eating Index; CHD, coronary heart disease; MET, metabolic equivalent of task; MHT, menopausal hormone therapy; SD, standard deviation.
a Data were standardized to the age distribution of the study population. Prevalent cases of chronic disease at baseline were included.