Table 2. Baseline characteristics of the participants in the PREDIMED-Plus trial according to baseline categories (roughly quartiles) of adherence to the traditional Mediterranean diet.
| Adherence to the Mediterranean diet | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Low-medium | Medium-high | High | |
| Score [MedDiet (0 to 17)] | 0–6 | 7–8 | 9–10 | 11–17 |
| N | 1567 | 1730 | 1647 | 1486 |
| Energy consumption (Kcal/d) | 2553(670) | 2404(636) | 2347(575) | 2312(583) |
| Age (years) | 64 (5) | 65 (5) | 65 (5) | 66 (5) |
| Female sex (%) | 37.4 | 47.6 | 50.5 | 56.5 |
| Body-mass index (Kg/m2) | 32.9 (3.4) | 32.8 (3.5) | 32.8 (3.4) | 32.4 (3.4) |
| Physical activity (METs-min/week) | 2187(2189) | 2360(2159) | 2644(2431) | 2972(2628) |
| Diabetes at baseline (%) | 22.2 | 27.6 | 28.8 | 29.5 |
| Depression at baseline (%) | 18.6 | 21.1 | 20.5 | 22.1 |
| Hypertension at baseline (%) | 84.8 | 84.0 | 84.0 | 81.2 |
| History of cancer (%) | 7.3 | 7.4 | 6.6 | 7.5 |
| History of lung disease (%) | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.7 | 4.5 |
| Smoking status (%) | ||||
| Current smoker | 15.7 | 13.6 | 10.9 | 9.6 |
| Former smoker | 44.9 | 43.5 | 42.9 | 44.4 |
| Never smoker | 39.4 | 42.9 | 46.1 | 46.1 |
| Marital status (%) | ||||
| Married | 77.5 | 77.2 | 77.4 | 74.4 |
| Single | 5.2 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.5 |
| Divorced | 7.4 | 8.1 | 7.7 | 8.8 |
| Widowed/widower | 9.8 | 10.2 | 9.8 | 11.4 |
| Maximum attained educational level (%) | ||||
| Primary school or less | 46.7 | 49.9 | 48.3 | 47.8 |
| Secondary school | 32.0 | 31.0 | 28.4 | 26.4 |
| College or higher | 21.3 | 19.1 | 22.3 | 25.8 |
| Anti-platelet therapy (%) | 13.6 | 14.7 | 16.7 | 17.4 |
| Blood-pressure lowering therapy (%) | 78.2 | 77.3 | 77.6 | 76.2 |
| Lipid lowering therapy (%) | 49.6 | 49.8 | 49.8 | 51.6 |
| Insulin therapy (%) | 4.2 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| Metformin therapy (%) | 18.6 | 23.1 | 24.0 | 24.0 |
| Other oral antidiabetic therapy (%) | 15.4 | 20.2 | 20.1 | 19.5 |
MedDiet: Mediterranean diet
Data are presented as mean (standard deviation) or percentage.