Table 1.
Characteristics of study population stratified by cancer diagnosis
| Characteristic | Participants without cancer (N = 11,326) | Participants with cancer (N = 2698) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathology-confirmed diagnosis (N = 2382) | Non pathology-confirmed diagnosis (N = 316) | P value* | ||
| Age, years, median (IQR) | 62.4 (57.7–72.7) | 65.0 (60.2–72.0) | 72.0 (66.1–78.1) | < .001 |
| Sex, women, no. (%) | 6912 (61.0) | 1135 (47.6) | 176 (55.7) | .007 |
| Marital status, no. (%) | < .001 | |||
| Living with partner | 7418 (65.5) | 1723 (72.3) | 181 (57.3) | |
| Living without partner | 3036 (26.8) | 597 (25.1) | 118 (37.3) | |
| Educational level, no. (%) | .002 | |||
| Primary | 2081 (18.4) | 423 (17.8) | 76 (24.1) | |
| Lower | 4393 (38.8) | 948 (39.8) | 131 (41.5) | |
| Intermediate | 2886 (25.5) | 700 (29.4) | 82 (25.9) | |
| Higher | 1718 (15.2) | 283 (11.9) | 20 (6.3) | |
| Body mass index, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 26.9 (4.2) | 26.7 (3.8) | 26.3 (3.7) | .137 |
| Smoking, no. (%) | .001 | |||
| Current | 2313 (20.4) | 608 (25.5) | 90 (28.5) | |
| Former | 4950 (43.7) | 1106 (46.4) | 109 (34.5) | |
| Never | 3838 (33.9) | 629 (26.4) | 104 (32.9) | |
| Alcohol use, no. (%) | 7843 (69.2) | 1683 (70.7) | 188 (59.5) | .287 |
| Age at cancer diagnosis, years, no. (%) | ||||
| 45–65 | 372 (15.6) | 8 (2.5) | ||
| 65–75 | 897 (37.7) | 42 (13.3) | ||
| 75–85 | 870 (36.5) | 136 (43.0) | ||
| > 85 | 243 (10.2) | 130 (41.1) | ||
| Median (IQR) | 74.2 (68.0–80.3) | 83.2 (78.0–88.0) | < .001 | |
| Comorbidities at cancer diagnosis, no. (%) | ||||
| Stroke | 164 (6.9) | 38 (12.0) | .001 | |
| Coronary heart disease | 302 (12.7) | 50 (15.8) | < .001 | |
| Hypertension | 1186 (49.8) | 227 (71.8) | < .001 | |
| Diabetes | 324 (13.6) | 37 (11.7) | < .001 | |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 326 (13.7) | 60 (19.0) | .011 | |
| Neurodegenerative disease | 353 (14.8) | 44 (30.4) | < .001 | |
Characteristics are measured at entry in the Rotterdam Study except for age at cancer diagnosis and comorbidities. Missing values are not imputed and therefore numbers do not always sum up to 100%
IQR interquartile range, N number of participants, SD standard deviation
*Two sided P values were calculated using the independent samples t-test (for continuous variables with a normal distribution), the Wilcoxon signed-rank test (for continuous variables with a skewed distribution), or the Chi squared test (for categorical variables) to investigate differences in characteristics between participants with pathology-confirmed diagnoses and participants with non pathology-confirmed diagnoses