Table 1.
Characteristics of the study population
| Women (5332) | Men (4536) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Age (mean, SD) | 43 (13.1) | 45 (13.0) | |
| Ethnicity (n, %) | Dutch | 938 (17.6) | 1083 (23.9) |
| South Asian Surinamese | 635 (11.9) | 668 (14.7) | |
| African Surinamese | 1174 (22.0) | 826 (18.2) | |
| Ghanaian | 660 (12.4) | 511 (11.3) | |
| Turkish | 870 (16.3) | 789 (17.4) | |
| Moroccan | 1055 (19.8) | 659 (14.5) | |
| Education | Elementary | 1189 (22.3) | 587 (12.9) |
| level (n, %) | Lower | 1317 (24.7) | 1360 (30.0) |
| Intermediate | 1504 (28.2) | 1357 (29.9) | |
| Higher | 1322 (24.8) | 1232 (27.2) | |
| Work stress (n, %) | Never | 1729 (40.1) | 1777 (44.2) |
| Some of the time | 1696 (39.3) | 1563 (38.9) | |
| Several periods | 579 (13.4) | 459 (11.4) | |
| permanent | 310 (7.2) | 219 (5.5) | |
| Not applicable | 995 | 499 | |
| Missing | 23 | 19 | |
| Home stress (n, %) | Never | 2382 (44.7) | 2582 (56.9) |
| Some of the time | 1973 (37.0) | 1432 (31.6) | |
| Several periods | 703 (13.2) | 347 (7.6) | |
| permanent | 274 (5.1) | 175 (3.9) | |
| Financial stress | No | 1268 (23.8) | 1399 (30.8) |
| (n, %) | Careful | 1773 (33.3) | 1459 (32.2) |
| Some difficulty | 1417 (26.6) | 1049 (23.1) | |
| Great difficulty | 874 (16.4) | 629 (13.9) | |
| Experienced negative life event (n, %) | 3600 (67.5) | 2932 (64.6) | |
| Lack of job control (median, IQR) | 59 (29.6) | 63 (29.6) | |
| Perceived discrimination (n, %) | 1261 (23.6) | 1192 (26.3) | |
| Antihypertensive medication (n, %) | 961 (18.0) | 664 (14.6) | |
| Recording parameters | Recording length (min) | 303.5 (42.6) | 299.1 (38.2) |
| (Mean, SD) | Number of included beats | 328.2 (62.0) | 307.9 (61.2) |
| Outcome measures | BRS (mmHg) | 11.0 (10.5) | 10.9 (8.9) |
| (Median, IQR) | SDNN (ms) | 45.5 (29.4) | 48.5 (29.7) |
| RMSSD (ms) | 0.040 (0.033) | 0.038 (0.030) | |
aβ blockers, calcium channel blockers and renin-angiotensin system blockers
bBRS, baroreflex sensitivity
cSDNN, standard deviation of the N-N interval
dRMSSD, the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats