Table 2. Characteristics of the study population.
| N | Women | Men | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n | Mean or % |
SD | n | Mean or % | SD | p | |||
| Number of observations | 14,470 | 6,816 | 47.1 | 7,654 | 52.9 | ||||
| Mean follow-up time, years | 8.6 | 2.6 | 11.4 | 5.6 | |||||
| Person-years during follow up | 27,034 | 73,217 | |||||||
| Age, years | 14,469 | 6,816 | 52.3 | 12.6 | 7,653 | 56.5 | 13.0 | <0.0001 | |
| Education | 14,120 | 6,722 | 7,398 | <0.0001 | |||||
| Compulsory school only, % | 2,223 | 33.1 | 2,773 | 37.5 | |||||
| Vocational school, % | 1,608 | 23.9 | 1,905 | 25.8 | |||||
| Upper secondary school, % | 1,286 | 19.1 | 1,166 | 15.8 | |||||
| University/college, % | 1,605 | 23.9 | 1,554 | 21.0 | |||||
| Occupational status | 14,187 | 6,575 | 7,612 | <0.0001 | |||||
| Unemployed, % | 271 | 4.1 | 286 | 3.8 | |||||
| Sick-leave/disability pension, % | 713 | 10.8 | 624 | 8.2 | |||||
| Old age retirement, % | 1,147 | 17.4 | 2,191 | 28.8 | |||||
| Married/cohabiting. % | 14,338 | 4,990 | 74.0 | 5,927 | 78.0 | <0.0001 | |||
| Smoking habits | 14,330 | 6,735 | 7,595 | 0.001 | |||||
| Never smoked or ex-smoker, % | 5,002 | 74.3 | 5,455 | 71.8 | |||||
| Current smoker, % | 1,733 | 25.7 | 2,140 | 28.2 | |||||
| Leisure time physical activity | 13,787 | 6,678 | 7,109 | <0.0001 | |||||
| Sedentary, % | 1,076 | 16.1 | 1,181 | 16.6 | |||||
| Moderately active, % | 4,663 | 69.8 | 4,511 | 63.4 | |||||
| Active, % | 890 | 13.3 | 1,304 | 18.3 | |||||
| Vigorously active, % | 49 | 0.7 | 113 | 1.6 | |||||
| Body mass index | 6,816 | 24.7 | 3.47 | 7,654 | 25.6 | 2.82 | <0.0001 | ||
| Complaint score (range 0–30) | 11,365 | 3,777 | 7.8 | 5.4 | 7,588 | 5.3 | 4.7 | <0.0001 | |
Sex differences were tested with Student’s t-test for continuous variables and the chi-square test for discrete variables.