Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study participants according to tertiles of score of Italian Mediterranean Index
| Tertile I, score 0–3 (n = 12,831) |
Tertile II, score 4–5 (n = 12,134) |
Tertile III , score 6–11 (n = 7154) |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD)a | |||
| Age (years) | 49.9 (7.7) | 50.5 (7.7) | 51.0 (7.7) |
| Non-alcoholic energy intake (Kcal/d) | 2154 (591) | 2271 (688) | 2417 (676) |
| Baseline to follow-up interval (years) | 12.0 (2.4) | 12.0 (2.3) | 11.9 (2.2) |
| N (%)a | |||
| Males | 4231 (33.0) | 3593 (29.6) | 1838 (25.7) |
| Centre | |||
| Turin | 2571 (20.0) | 2367 (19.5) | 1319 (18.4) |
| Varese | 3377 (26.3) | 2586 (21.3) | 1244 (17.4) |
| Florence | 4114 (32.1) | 3910 (32.2) | 2502 (35.0) |
| Naples | 586 (4.6) | 1699 (14.0) | 1533 (21.4) |
| Ragusa | 2183 (17.0) | 1572 (13.0) | 556 (7.8) |
| Education: ≤8 years | 6061 (47.2) | 5748 (47.4) | 3155 (44.1) |
| Smoking status | |||
| Current smoker | 3495 (27.2) | 3082 (25.4) | 1686 (23.6) |
| Ex-smoker | 3369 (26.3) | 3400 (28.0) | 2177 (30.4) |
| Never smoker | 5967 (46.5) | 5654 (46.6) | 3291 (46.0) |
| Physical activity | |||
| Inactive | 3414 (26.6) | 3645 (30.0) | 2285 (31.9) |
| Moderately inactive | 5244 (40.9) | 4606 (38.0) | 2462 (34.4) |
| Moderately active | 2368 (18.4) | 2084 (17.2) | 1251 (17.5) |
| Active | 1805 (14.1) | 1799 (14.8) | 1156 (16.2) |
| BMI | |||
| <25 kg/m2 | 6186 (48.2) | 5557 (45.8) | 3273 (45.8) |
| 25–29.99 kg/m2 | 5017 (39.1) | 4917 (40.5) | 2899 (40.5) |
| ≥30 kg/m2 | 1628 (12.7) | 1660 (13.7) | 982 (13.8) |
| Postmenopausal women | 3764 (43.8) | 4005 (46.9) | 2564 (49.9) |
aTertile values differ significantly (P < 0.05) in all cases