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. 2021 Jun 3;109(5):563–576. doi: 10.1007/s00223-021-00870-z

Table 2.

Baseline characteristics of women in the UK (n = 4054) and HK (n = 1977) cohorts

Parameter UK
(n = 4054)
HK (n = 1977)
Mean SD n % Mean SD n % p value
Age (years) 70.3 3.3 72.5 5.3  < 0.001
Age group (years), n (%)  < 0.001
 < 70y 2027 50.0 665 33.6
 ≥ 70y and < 75y 1664 41.1 659 33.3
 ≥ 75y and < 80y 363 9.0 443 22.4
 > 80y 210 10.6
BMI (kg/m2) 26.6 4.1 23.9 3.4  < 0.001
BMI categories (kg/m2), n (%)  < 0.001

 ≥ 18.5 and < 25 UK;

 ≥ 18.5 and < 23 HK

31 0.8 95 4.8

 ≥ 25 and < 30 UK;

 ≥ 23 and < 25 HK

1478 36.5 1177 59.5
 ≥ 30 UK; ≥ 25 HK 1817 44.8 622 31.5

 ≥ 18.5 and < 25 UK;

 ≥ 18.5 and < 23 HK

728 18.0 83 4.2
Physical activity level, n (%)  < 0.001
Active 312 7.7 80 4.1
Moderately active 572 14.1 71 3.6
Moderately inactive 1246 30.7 416 21.0
Inactive 1924 47.5 1410 71.3
Smoking status, n (%)  < 0.001
Never 358 53.8 1789 90.5
Current or former 3696 46.2 188 9.5
Family Hx of osteoporosis, n (%) 0.013
No 3911 96.5 1881 95.1
Yes 143 3.5 96 4.9
HRT use, n (%)  < 0.001
Never 3500 86.3 1914 96.8
Past 312 7.7 53 2.7
Current 242 6.0 10 0.5
Education, n (%)  < 0.001
None or pre-secondary education only 2290 56.5 1635 82.7
Secondary, college, or further education 1512 37.3 223 11.3
Higher education/university 252 6.2 119 6.0
Dietary calcium intake (mg/1000 kcal) 519.0 121.3 361.3 136.4  < 0.001
Dietary calcium intake ≥ 700 mg/d, n (%) 3483 85.9 526 26.6  < 0.001
Dietary vitamin D intake (ug/1000 kcal) 1.79 0.83 0.19 0.21  < 0.001
Vegetable consumption (g/1000 kcal/d) 140.0 74.0 151.6 86.4  < 0.001
Fruit consumption (g/1000 kcal/d) 150.3 99.4 155.2 91.5 0.062
Ethanol consumption (g/d) 0.61 0.99 0.01 0.09  < 0.001
Ethanol consumption, n (%)  < 0.001
0 units 1309 32.3 1926 97.4
 > 0 and ≤ 2 units UK; > 0 HK 2450 60.4 51 2.6
 ≥ 2 units UK 295 7.3
Use of calcium supplement, n (%)  < 0.001
No 3885 95.8 1623 82.1
Yes 169 4.2 354 17.9
Serum vitamin D (nmol/L)a 50.5 21.2 57.8 14.6  < 0.001
 ≥ 50 nmol/L, n (%) 683 46.2 920 66.2  < 0.001

aSerum vitamin D data were available for 1477 UK and 1389 HK women. p values for differences between UK and HK cohorts according to t-test for continuous or Chi-square for categorical variables