Table 1.
Population characteristics
| Total | Female participants | Male participants | |
|---|---|---|---|
| N | 39 804 (100.0%) | 20 718 (52.1%) | 19,086 (47.9%) |
| Sex (female/male) | 52.1% /47.9% | 100.0% /0.0% | 0.0% /100.0% |
| Age (years) | 64.20 (7.55) | 63.54 (7.40) | 64.92 (7.64) |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 26.41 (4.37) | 25.97 (4.72) | 26.89 (3.89) |
| Waist circumference (cm) | 88.33 (12.66) | 82.83 (11.84) | 94.28 (10.69) |
| FFMV, total thigh (L) | 10.17 (2.55) | 8.19 (1.17) | 12.33 (1.76) |
| FFMV, left anterior thigh (L) | 1.70 (0.48) | 1.34 (0.23) | 2.10 (0.36) |
| FFMV, right anterior thigh (L) | 1.71 (0.49) | 1.34 (0.23) | 2.11 (0.36) |
| FFMV, left posterior thigh (L) | 3.35 (0.80) | 2.74 (0.38) | 4.02 (0.57) |
| FFMV, right posterior thigh (L) | 3.40 (0.82) | 2.76 (0.39) | 4.08 (0.57) |
| FFMV, z‐score (SD) | −0.01 (0.98) | −0.01 (0.99) | −0.01 (0.98) |
| MFI, mean anterior thigh (%) | 7.34 (1.88) | 7.82 (1.87) | 6.81 (1.75) |
| MFI, left anterior thigh (%) | 7.50 (1.91) | 8.01 (1.90) | 6.93 (1.75) |
| MFI, right anterior thigh (%) | 7.19 (1.92) | 7.65 (1.91) | 6.70 (1.81) |
| MFI, left posterior thigh (%) | 11.06 (2.41) | 11.62 (2.34) | 10.44 (2.33) |
| MFI, right posterior thigh (%) | 10.85 (2.42) | 11.43 (2.34) | 10.22 (2.34) |
| MFI, sex‐adjusted (pp) | 0.27 (1.81) | 0.27 (1.87) | 0.28 (1.75) |
| Cancer (yes/no/missing) | 10.4% /88.7% /0.9% | 10.9% /88.1% /1.0% | 9.8% /89.3% /0.8% |
| Type 2 diabetes (yes/no/missing) | 5.0% /94.5% /0.5% | 3.2% /96.2% /0.6% | 7.0% /92.6% /0.4% |
| Coronary heart disease (yes/no/missing) | 5.2% /94.4% /0.4% | 2.6% /96.9% /0.4% | 7.9% /91.7% /0.4% |
| Hand grip strength = low (yes/no/missing) | 7.1% /89.7% /3.2% | 7.1% /89.5% /3.4% | 7.1% /89.9% /3.0% |
| Smoking (no/previous/current/missing) | 61.9% /33.6% /3.5% /1.0% | 65.5% /30.5% /2.9% /1.1% | 58.1% /37.0% /4.1% /0.9% |
| Alcohol consumption (g/day) | 22.77 (25.47) | 16.67 (19.66) | 29.39 (29.14) |
| Physical activity IPAQ (moderate/low/high/missing) | 43.6% /19.7% /36.0% /0.8% | 44.2% /21.5% /33.4% /0.8% | 42.9% /17.6% /38.8% /0.7% |
| Townsend deprivation index | −1.91 (2.71) | −1.86 (2.72) | −1.95 (2.71) |
BMI, body mass index; FFMV, fat‐tissue free muscle volume; IPAQ, international physical activity questionnaire; MFI, muscle fat infiltration.
Low muscle volume defined as <25th percentile of the whole cohort for muscle volume z‐score [cut‐point −0.68 (both female participants and male participants)], and high muscle fat infiltration (MFI) as >75th percentile of the whole cohort [cut‐points 8.82% and 7.69% (female participants/male participants)]. Adverse MC defined as low muscle volume coupled with high MFI. 8 Values are mean (standard deviation) for continuous variables and fraction per category for categorical and binary variables.