Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of the study participants stratified by fish oil use. Values are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise
| Characteristics | Overall (n=427 678) |
Fish oil non-users (n=294 240) | Fish oil users (n=133 438) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) age (years) | 55.9 (8.1) | 54.9 (8.2) | 58.2 (7.5) | <0.001 |
| Female | 235 438 (55.1) | 158 662 (53.9) | 76 776 (57.5) | <0.001 |
| Mean (SD) Townsend Deprivation Index | −1.35 (3.06) | −1.26 (3.11) | −1.56 (2.95) | <0.001 |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| White | 392 958 (91.9) | 269 605 (91.6) | 123 353 (92.4) | <0.001 |
| Asian | 19 481 (4.6) | 14 046 (4.8) | 5435 (4.1) | |
| Black | 7177 (1.7) | 4859 (1.7) | 2318 (1.7) | |
| Chinese | 1440 (0.3) | 957 (0.3) | 483 (0.4) | |
| Mixed | 2621 (0.6) | 1829 (0.6) | 792 (0.6) | |
| Others | 4001 (0.9) | 2944 (1.0) | 1057 (0.8) | |
| Household income (£) | ||||
| <18 000* | 92 686 (21.7) | 61 180 (20.8) | 31 506 (23.6) | <0.001 |
| 18 000-30 999 | 108 753 (25.4) | 70 982 (24.1) | 37 771 (28.3) | |
| 31 000-51 999 | 113 525 (26.5) | 79 134 (26.9) | 34 391 (25.8) | |
| 52 000-100 000 | 89 068 (20.8) | 65 022 (22.1) | 24 046 (18.0) | |
| >100 000 | 23 646 (5.5) | 17 922 (6.1) | 5724 (4.3) | |
| Mean (SD) body mass index | 27.31 (4.75) | 27.42 (4.84) | 27.07 (4.52) | <0.001 |
| Fruit consumption (servings/day) | ||||
| <2.0 | 152 429 (35.6) | 114 609 (39.0) | 37 820 (28.3) | <0.001 |
| 2.0-3.9 | 206 788 (48.4) | 137 060 (46.6) | 69 728 (52.3) | |
| ≥4.0 | 68 461 (16.0) | 42 571 (14.5) | 25 890 (19.4) | |
| Vegetable consumption (servings/day) | ||||
| <2.0 | 148 868 (34.8) | 108 102 (36.7) | 40 766 (30.6) | <0.001 |
| 2.0-3.9 | 220 068 (51.5) | 147 636 (50.2) | 72 432 (54.3) | |
| ≥4.0 | 58 742 (13.7) | 38 502 (13.1) | 20 240 (15.2) | |
| Oily fish consumption (times/week) | ||||
| <2 | 191 926 (44.9) | 143 119 (48.6) | 48 807 (36.6) | <0.001 |
| ≥2 | 235 752 (55.1) | 151 121 (51.4) | 84 631 (63.4) | |
| Smoking status | ||||
| Never | 240 251 (56.2) | 166 672 (56.6) | 73 579 (55.1) | <0.001 |
| Former | 142 810 (33.4) | 93 819 (31.9) | 48 991 (36.7) | |
| Current | 44 617 (10.4) | 33 749 (11.5) | 10 868 (8.1) | |
| Alcohol consumption (times/week) | ||||
| Never | 128 881 (30.1) | 90 588 (30.8) | 38 293 (28.7) | <0.001 |
| 1-2 | 111 320 (26.0) | 76 441 (26.0) | 34 879 (26.1) | |
| 3-4 | 100 322 (23.5) | 67 953 (23.1) | 32 369 (24.3) | |
| ≥5 | 87 155 (20.4) | 59 258 (20.1) | 27 897 (20.9) | |
| Physical activity (min/week) | ||||
| <150 | 195 246 (45.7) | 139 769 (47.5) | 55 477 (41.6) | <0.001 |
| ≥150 | 232 432 (54.3) | 154 471 (52.5) | 77 961 (58.4) | |
| Diabetes | 18 894 (4.4) | 13 480 (4.6) | 5414 (4.1) | <0.001 |
| Hypertension | 230 974 (54.0) | 154 366 (52.5) | 76 608 (57.4) | <0.001 |
| Longstanding illness | 122 579 (28.7) | 83 483 (28.4) | 39 096 (29.3) | <0.001 |
| Antihypertensive drug use | 43 069 (10.1) | 28 511 (9.7) | 14 558 (10.9) | <0.001 |
| Statin use | 40 990 (9.6) | 26 651 (9.1) | 14 339 (10.7) | <0.001 |
| Insulin treatment | 687 (0.2) | 532 (0.2) | 155 (0.1) | <0.001 |
| Aspirin use | 42 550 (9.9) | 25 920 (8.8) | 16 630 (12.5) | <0.001 |
| Vitamin supplementation | 135 308 (31.6) | 59 868 (20.3) | 75 440 (56.5) | <0.001 |
| Mineral and other dietary supplementation | 119 822 (28.0) | 52 325 (17.8) | 67 497 (50.6) | <0.001 |
*
£18 000=€21 489; $23 253.