Table 1.
Characteristics of the Participants and by Extreme Quartiles of Dietary Riboflavin and Folate Intake at Baseline (1993–1998) in the Singapore Chinese Health Study (n = 16,948)
| All subjects | Riboflavin (mg) | Folate (μg) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Q4 | Q1 | Q4 | ||
| Median daily intake | — | 0.72 | 1.22 | 110.99 | 213.88 |
| Baseline age (y) | 52.50 | 52.98 | 52.34 | 53.19 | 51.86 |
| Follow-up age (y) | 72.18 | 72.87 | 71.74 | 73.05 | 71.41 |
| Body Mass Index (kg/m2) | 23.05 | 23.03 | 22.97 | 22.97 | 23.12 |
| Female (%) | 59.20 | 43.85 | 66.77 | 45.86 | 63.32 |
| No formal education (%) | 18.84 | 20.01 | 15.01 | 22.45 | 12.72 |
| Primary school (%) | 44.77 | 50.53 | 41.33 | 49.26 | 39.91 |
| Secondary school (%) | 28.99 | 24.00 | 33.21 | 23.37 | 37.05 |
| Diploma or higher (%) | 7.40 | 5.45 | 10.46 | 4.93 | 10.31 |
| Married (%) | 88.60 | 89.05 | 87.61 | 89.00 | 88.65 |
| Cantonesea (%) | 49.83 | 49.68 | 54.21 | 46.12 | 58.08 |
| Current smoker (%) | 13.06 | 19.94 | 8.73 | 21.76 | 8.76 |
| Daily drinker (%) | 2.76 | 3.47 | 2.48 | 3.28 | 2.71 |
| Hypertension (%) | 19.38 | 18.57 | 19.59* | 17.35 | 21.27 |
| Heart attack (%) | 2.08 | 1.75 | 2.41* | 1.72 | 2.34* |
| Stroke (%) | 0.48 | 0.38 | 0.80 | 0.45 | 0.50* |
| Diabetes (%) | 4.89 | 3.45 | 6.61 | 4.30 | 5.40* |
| Cancer (%) | 1.89 | 1.30 | 2.60 | 1.46 | 2.15* |
| Daily energy intake (kcal) | 1,506.32 | 1,660.83 | 1,594.83 | 1,685.69 | 1,580.87 |
Note: N for each quartile was 4,237. Values were medians or percentages as appropriate. Follow-up age was recorded at cognitive assessment. Other values were all assessed at baseline in 1993–1998. Q = quartile.
aCantonese is one of the two father dialects of our study population, the other is Hokkien.
*p ≥ .05; All others were significant at p < .05.