Table 5. Associations of tea consumption with incident hypertension after excluding hypertension cases within the first year of follow-up.

Tea consumption	Total number	Person-years	Number of cases	Incidence rate (per 1,000 person-years)	HR (95% CI)^*	HR (95% CI)^**
^Refers to HRs (95% CIs) were adjusted for age, sex, body mass index, region, and baseline systolic blood pressure. ^Refers to HRs (95% CIs) were further adjusted for smoking, drinking, physical activity, education level, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and family history of hypertension. ^**Refers to someone who had drank tea ≥ 3 times/week for at least six months. CI: confidence interval; HR: hazard ratio.
Tea drinking frequency
Non-habitual tea drinkers	28,799	163,186	4,357	26.7	Reference	Reference
Habitual tea drinkers^***	9,931	54,056	1,395	25.8	0.89 (0.83–0.94)	0.85 (0.80–0.91)
Tea consumption amount
Non-habitual tea drinkers	28,799	163,186	4,357	26.7	Reference	Reference
50 g/month	2,199	12,369	317	25.6	0.96 (0.86–1.08)	0.95 (0.85–1.07)
100 g/month	3,267	17,996	439	24.4	0.84 (0.76–0.93)	0.82 (0.74–0.90)
≥ 150 g/month	4,465	23,691	639	27.0	0.88 (0.81–0.96)	0.83 (0.76–0.91)
P_trend	—	—	—	—	< 0.001	< 0.001