Table 1.
Participants’ characteristics in middle of follow-up period according number of low risk lifestyle factors in Nurses’ Health Study (women) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (men). Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise*
| No of low risk lifestyle factors† | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zero | One | Two | Three | Four or five | |
| Nurses’ Health Study (1998) | (n=11 749) | (n=25 048) | (n=19 837) | (n=9079) | (n=2984 |
| Mean (SD) age, years | 63.3 (7.1) | 63.6 (7.2) | 63.7 (7.2) | 63.8 (7.1) | 63.6 (6.9) |
| Mean (SD) body mass index | 31.0 (5.3) | 29.2 (5.5) | 26.6 (5.0) | 24.4 (3.5) | 23.1 (2.1) |
| Mean (SD) Alternate Healthy Eating Index score | 43.0 (6.8) | 46.6 (9.2) | 51.4 (9.8) | 55.3 (9.3) | 58.3 (8.1) |
| Mean (SD) physical activity, h/week | 0.5 (1.0) | 0.9 (1.8) | 1.9 (3.0) | 3.5 (3.8) | 5.5 (4.3) |
| Mean (SD) alcohol consumption, g/day | 5.0 (10.8) | 4.5 (9.1) | 5.1 (8.1) | 6.1 (7.4) | 7.3 (5.5) |
| Past smoking | 9086 (77.5) | 11 314 (45.2) | 6822 (34.4) | 2658 (29.3) | 558 (18.6) |
| Current smoking | 2663 (22.5) | 3249 (13.0) | 1654 (8.4) | 409 (4.5) | 50 (1.7) |
| White | 11 524(98.1) | 24 496 (97.8) | 19 289 (97.2) | 8839 (97.4) | 2921 (97.9) |
| Multivitamin use | 5412 (46.1) | 12 437 (49.6) | 10 480 (52.8) | 5220 (57.5) | 1765 (59.1) |
| Regular aspirin use | 5212 (44.5) | 11 457 (45.7) | 9145 (46.1) | 4358 (47.9) | 1535 (51.6) |
| Family history of diabetes | 3583 (30.5) | 7394 (29.5) | 5296 (26.7) | 2170 (23.9) | 690 (23.1) |
| Family history of cancer | 1549 (13.3) | 3438 (13.7) | 2721 (13.7) | 1236 (13.6) | 419 (14.1) |
| Family history of myocardial infarction | 3153 (26.8) | 6273 (25.1) | 4787 (24.1) | 2069 (22.8) | 705 (23.6) |
| Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study (1998) | (n=4052) | (n=10 043) | (n=10 706) | (n=7252) | (n=3710) |
| Mean (SD) age, years | 64.3 (9.1) | 64.0 (9.2) | 63.7 (9.1) | 63.7 (9.1) | 63.5 (8.9) |
| Mean (SD) body mass index | 29.2 (3.8) | 28.2 (3.7) | 26.9 (3.5) | 25.7 (3.1) | 24.2 (2.2) |
| Mean (SD) Alternate Healthy Eating Index score | 42.5 (7.1) | 45.6 (9.0) | 50.1 (10.1) | 54.4 (10.0) | 58.9 (8.9) |
| Mean (SD) physical activity, h/week | 0.8 (1.2) | 1.9 (3.8) | 3.7 (5.6) | 5.9 (6.6) | 8.0 (7.2) |
| Mean (SD) alcohol consumption, g/day | 13.1 (21.2) | 10.6 (15.4) | 10.4 (12.4) | 10.8 (10.5) | 11.3 (8.2) |
| Past smoking | 3465 (85.4) | 6256 (62.2) | 5258 (49.2) | 2711 (37.4) | 624 (16.9) |
| Current smoking | 587 (14.6) | 848 (8.5) | 491 (4.6) | 172 (2.4) | 21 (0.6) |
| White | 3814 (94.1) | 9441 (94.0) | 10 117 (94.5) | 6818 (94.0) | 3526 (95.0) |
| Multivitamin use | 1520 (37.3) | 4247 (42.3) | 5092 (47.6) | 3804 (52.5) | 2135 (57.6) |
| Regular aspirin use | 2020 (49.7) | 5349 (53.3) | 6014 (56.2) | 4250 (58.6) | 2264 (61.0) |
| Family history of diabetes | 861 (21.2) | 2090 (20.8) | 2159 (20.2) | 1510 (20.8) | 709 (19.2) |
| Family history of cancer | 1291 (31.7) | 3445 (34.3) | 3824 (35.7) | 2641 (36.4) | 1422 (38.5) |
| Family history of myocardial infarction | 1300 (32.0) | 3143 (31.3) | 3412 (31.9) | 2336 (32.2) | 1248 (33.8) |
*
Values other than age are standardized to age distribution of study population.
†
Included cigarette smoking (never smoking), physical activity (≥3.5 h/week moderate to vigorous intensity activity), high diet quality (upper 40% of Alternate Healthy Eating Index), moderate alcohol intake of 5-15 g/day (women) or 5-30 g/day (men), and normal weight (body mass index 18.5-24.9).