Table 1.
Baseline characteristics of study subjects stratified by extreme quartiles of age
| ≤ 62 years old (Q1) | ≥ 71 years old (Q4) | P group | P age | P interaction | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | MedDiet-EVOO | MedDiet-nuts | Control diet | All | MedDiet-EVOO | MedDiet-nuts | Control diet | ||||
| No. of subjects | 1091 | 425 | 378 | 288 | 1187 | 491 | 374 | 322 | |||
| Age (years), mean (SD) | 59.6 (2.1) | 59.6 (2.2) | 59.6 (2.1) | 59.7 (2.1) | 74.3 (2.6) | 74.5 (2.6) | 74.0 (2.4) | 74.4 (2.5) | 0.036 | < 0.001 | 0.167 |
| Women, n (%) | 520 (47.7) | 209 (49.2) | 171 (45.2) | 140 (48.6) | 771 (65.0) | 319 (65.0) | 232 (62.0) | 220 (68.3) | 0.099 | < 0.001 | |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD) | 30.1 (3.9) | 30.2 (3.7) | 30.2 (4.1) | 30.0 (4.0) | 29.9 (3.8) | 30.1 (3.7) | 29.6 (3.8) | 29.7 (3.7) | 0.466 | 0.015 | 0.742 |
| Overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2), n (%) | 1028 (94.2) | 405 (95.3) | 359 (95.0) | 264 (91.7) | 1083 (91.2) | 455 (92.7) | 334 (89.3) | 294 (91.3) | 0.168 | 0.006 | |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 856 (78.5) | 334 (78.6) | 303 (80.2) | 219 (76.0) | 1014 (85.4) | 400 (81.5) | 327 (87.4) | 287 (89.1) | 0.125 | < 0.001 | |
| Diabetes, n (%) | 483 (44.3) | 194 (45.6) | 155 (41.0) | 134 (46.5) | 608 (48.8) | 261 (53.2) | 182 (48.7) | 165 (51.2) | 0.115 | 0.001 | |
| Dyslipidemia, n (%) | 816 (74.8) | 311 (73.2) | 290 (76.7) | 215 (74.7) | 812 (68.4) | 326 (66.4) | 262 (70.1) | 224 (69.6) | 0.210 | 0.001 | |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 212 (19.4) | 84 (19.8) | 71 (18.8) | 57 (19.8) | 94 (7.9) | 41 (8.4) | 27 (7.2) | 26 (8.1) | 0.925 | < 0.001 | |
| Family history of premature CHD, n (%) | 286 (26.2) | 103 (24.2) | 110 (29.1) | 73 (25.3) | 218 (18.4) | 101 (20.6) | 59 (15.8) | 58 (18.0) | 0.899 | < 0.001 | |
| Medication, n (%) | |||||||||||
| ACE inhibitors | 279 (25.6) | 95 (22.3) | 100 (26.5) | 84 (29.2) | 354 (29.8) | 147 (29.9) | 105 (28.1) | 102 (31.7) | 0.204 | 0.024 | |
| Statins | 415 (38.0) | 149 (66.2) | 144 (38.1) | 122 (42.4) | 484 (40.8) | 203 (41.3) | 146 (39.0) | 135 (41.9) | 0.289 | 0.182 | |
| Insulin | 53 (4.9) | 22 (5.2) | 17 (4.5) | 14 (4.9) | 59 (5.0) | 20 (4.1) | 27 (7.2) | 12 (3.7) | 0.336 | 0.901 | |
| Oral hypoglycemic drugs | 282 (25.8) | 109 (25.6) | 91 (24.1) | 82 (28.5) | 369 (31.1) | 159 (32.4) | 112 (29.9) | 98 (30.4) | 0.499 | 0.006 | |
| Aspirin or other antiplatelet drugs | 158 (14.5) | 53 (12.5) | 58 (15.3) | 47 (16.3) | 253 (21.3) | 103 (21.0) | 77 (20.6) | 73 (22.7) γ | 0.420 | < 0.001 | |
| NSAIDS | 106 (9.7) | 46 (10.8) | 29 (7.7) | 31 (10.8) | 143 (12.0) | 67 (13.6) | 40 (10.7) | 36 (11.2) | 0.120 | 0.075 | |
| Antidepressants | 236 (21.6) | 79 (18.6) | 81 (21.4) | 76 (26.4) | 320 (27.0) | 125 (25.5) | 101 (27.0) | 94 (29.2) | 0.044 | 0.003 | |
| Diuretics | 199 (18.2) | 80 (18.8) | 55 (14.5) | 64 (22.2) | 307 (25.9) | 122 (24.8) | 93 (24.9) | 92 (28.6) | 0.034 | < 0.001 | |
| Vitamins or supplements, n (%) | 107 (9.8) | 40 (9.4) | 37 (9.8) | 30 (10.4) | 173 (14.6) | 82 (16.7) | 36 (9.6) | 55 (17.1) | 0.207 | 0.001 | |
| Educational level, n (%) | 0.087 | < 0.001 | |||||||||
| Primary school | 670 (61.4) | 269 (63.3) | 220 (58.2) | 181 (62.8) | 940 (79.2) | 396 (80.7) | 289 (77.3) | 255 (79.2) | |||
| High school | 265 (24.3) | 93 (21.9) | 106 (28.0) | 66 (22.9) | 123 (10.4) | 46 (9.4) | 44 (11.8) | 33 (10.2) | |||
| University | 124 (9.2) | 51 (12.0) | 44 (11.6) | 29 (10.1) | 55 (4.6) | 17 (4.0) | 23 (6.1) | 15 (4.7) | |||
| Energy expenditure in physical activity (kcal/day), mean (SD) | 256.7 (232.1) | 257.4 (222.8) | 262.8 (234.7) | 247.4 (242.5) | 228.5 (224.7) | 221.3 (208.9) | 245.9 (247.9) | 219.1 (219.1) | 0.201 | 0.005 | 0.693 |
Values are mean ± SD or n (%) as appropriate. ANOVA with two factors (group of treatment and quartiles 1–4 of age) was used for continuous variables and χ2-test for categorical variables
ACE angiotensin converting enzyme, BMI body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in square meters), CHD coronary heart disease, EVOO extra virgin olive oil, NSAIDS non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, MedDiet Mediterranean diet, SD standard deviation