. 2023 Jan 4;131(1):017001. doi: 10.1289/EHP10611

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics [ $n$ (%) or $mean \pm SD$ ] of the MJ Health Database study population between 2006 and 2016, Taiwan.

Variable	Cohort without abdominal obesity ( $uppercase italic n equals 77,862$ )	Cohort with normal TG ( $uppercase italic n equals 76,101$ )	Cohort with normal HDL-C ( $uppercase italic n equals 744,88$ )	Cohort with normal BP ( $uppercase italic n equals 698,71$ )	Cohort with normal FBG ( $uppercase italic n equals 59,681$ )	Cohort without MetS ( $uppercase italic n equals 76,349$ )
Already diagnosed with MetS
No	69,970 (93.6)	68,633 (93.5)	67,163 (90.2)	63,061 (94.1)	54,903 (96.0)	76,349 (100)
Yes	4,765 (6.4)	4,771 (6.5)	7,266 (9.8)	3,930 (5.9)	2,287 (4.0)	0 (0)
Missing	3,127	2,697	59	2,880	2,490	0
Enrolled age (y)	$40.2 \pm 11.6$	$40.3 \pm 12.0$	$41.1 \pm 12.1$	$39.0 \pm 10.6$	$38.6 \pm 11.0$	$40.1 \pm 11.6$
$less than 44$	53,821 (69.1)	52,354 (68.8)	49,209 (66.1)	51,388 (73.5)	44,694 (74.9)	53,006 (69.4)
45–64	21,206 (27.2)	20,488 (26.9)	21,821 (29.3)	16,963 (24.3)	13,324 (22.3)	20,594 (27.0)
$greater than or equal to 65$	2,835 (3.6)	3,259 (4.3)	3,458 (4.6)	1,520 (2.2)	1,663 (2.8)	2,749 (3.6)
Sex
Male	37,055 (47.6)	33,623 (44.2)	37,469 (50.3)	31,064 (44.5)	25,145 (42.1)	35,573 (46.6)
Female	40,807 (52.4)	42,478 (55.8)	37,019 (49.7)	38,807 (55.5)	34,536 (57.9)	40,766 (53.4)
Body mass index (kg/m²)	$22.1 \pm 2.7$	$22.6 \pm 3.4$	$22.9 \pm 3.5$	$22.5 \pm 3.3$	$22.4 \pm 3.3$	$22.4 \pm 3.1$
$less than 18.5$	6,891 (8.9)	6,773 (8.9)	6,130 (8.2)	6,461 (9.2)	6,033 (10.1)	6,518 (8.5)
18.5–24	51,311 (65.9)	46,206 (60.7)	43,187 (58.0)	42,900 (61.4)	37,041 (62.1)	47,820 (62.6)
$greater than or equal to 24$	19,643 (25.2)	23,103 (30.4)	25,152 (33.8)	20,504 (29.3)	16,593 (27.8)	22,004 (28.8)
Missing^a	17	19	19	6	14	7
Marital status
Single/divorced/separated/widowed	26,155 (33.8)	26,324 (34.8)	24,659 (33.3)	24,031 (34.6)	22,003 (37.1)	25,670 (33.8)
Married/cohabitating	51,227 (66.2)	49,307 (65.2)	49,457 (66.7)	45,411 (65.4)	37,315 (62.9)	50,325 (66.2)
Missing^a	480	470	372	429	363	354
Education level
Junior high school and below	8,748 (11.3)	9,373 (12.4)	9,616 (12.9)	6,405 (9.2)	5,736 (9.6)	8,696 (11.4)
General and vocational high school	14,822 (19.1)	14,237 (18.8)	13,809 (18.6)	13,816 (18.9)	11,057 (18.6)	14,312 (18.8)
College	43,004 (55.4)	41,637 (54.9)	40,188 (54.1)	39,950 (57.4)	34,220 (57.5)	42,185 (55.4)
Master’s degree and above	11,001 (14.2)	10,572 (14.0)	10,682 (14.4)	10,063 (14.5)	8,450 (14.2)	10,975 (14.4)
Missing^a	287	282	193	267	218	181
Smoking habits
Never smoking/former smoking	60,882 (78.4)	60,732 (80.1)	58,107 (78.2)	54,083 (77.6)	46,807 (78.7)	60,056 (78.8)
Secondhand smoke exposure	3,290 (4.2)	3,411 (4.5)	3,196 (4.3)	3,022 (4.3)	2,623 (4.4)	3,294 (4.3)
Frequent smoking/daily smoking	13,447 (17.3)	11,722 (15.5)	13,035 (17.5)	12,545 (18.0)	10,060 (16.9)	12,857 (16.9)
Missing^a	243	236	150	221	191	142
Alcohol drinking habits^b
Never drinking/former drinking	66,801 (86.3)	66,154 (87.4)	62,822 (84.7)	60,452 (87.0)	51,990 (87.6)	65,718 (86.4)
Occasional drinking	7,316 (9.4)	6,750 (8.9)	7,667 (10.3)	6,484 (9.3)	5,231 (8.8)	7,213 (9.5)
Frequent drinking/daily drinking	3,322 (4.3)	2,774 (3.7)	3,677 (5.0)	2,553 (3.7)	2,148 (3.6)	3,108 (4.1)
Missing^a	423	423	322	382	312	310
Sleeping time per day (h)
$less than 6$	16,751 (21.6)	16,946 (22.3)	16,706 (22.5)	15,027 (21.6)	12,939 (21.8)	16,713 (21.9)
6–8	56,114 (72.3)	54,328 (71.6)	53,112 (71.5)	50,300 (72.2)	42,810 (72.0)	54,801 (71.9)
$greater than 8$	4,731 (6.1)	4,560 (6.0)	4,491 (6.0)	4,298 (6.2)	3,733 (6.3)	4,647 (6.1)
Missing^a	266	267	179	246	199	161
Regular exercise
None, little or $less than 1 hour$ weekly	35,252 (49.6)	34,312 (49.7)	33,498 (49.3)	33,239 (52.1)	28,042 (51.4)	34,779 (49.9)
1–4 h weekly or once per 2–3 d	26,581 (37.4)	25,678 (37.2)	24,962 (36.8)	23,412 (36.7)	20,249 (37.1)	26,001 (37.3)
$greater than or equal to 5 hours$ weekly or daily	9,195 (12.9)	9,047 (13.1)	9,428 (13.9)	7,126 (11.2)	6,219 (11.4)	8,985 (12.9)
Missing^a	6,834	7,064	6,600	6,094	5,171	6,584
Fried food consumption per week (portions)
None, little or $less than or equal to 1$	22,525 (29.0)	21,849 (28.8)	21,370 (28.8)	19,233 (27.6)	16,376 (27.5)	21,904 (28.8)
2–3	40,811 (52.6)	39,706 (52.4)	38,849 (52.3)	36,876 (53.0)	31,493 (52.9)	40,015 (52.5)
$greater than or equal to 4$	14,252 (18.4)	14,267 (18.8)	14,072 (18.9)	13,504 (19.4)	11,610 (19.5)	14,251 (18.7)
Missing^a	274	279	197	258	202	179
Processed food consumption per week (portions)
None, little or $less than or equal to 1$	48,818 (62.9)	47,402 (62.5)	45,996 (61.9)	43,233 (62.1)	36,854 (62.0)	47,669 (62.6)
2–3	25,588 (33.0)	25,255 (33.3)	25,064 (33.7)	23,411 (33.6)	20,093 (33.8)	25,364 (33.3)
$greater than or equal to 4$	3,175 (4.1)	3,161 (4.2)	3,226 (4.3)	2,964 (4.3)	2,529 (4.3)	3,150 (4.1)
Missing^a	281	283	202	263	205	184
Region
North^c	54,142 (69.5)	54,215 (71.2)	51,167 (68.7)	50,234 (71.9)	41,235 (69.1)	53,446 (70.0)
Central^d	10,178 (13.1)	9,553 (12.6)	10,352 (13.9)	8,868 (12.7)	8,722 (14.6)	10,153 (13.3)
South^e	13,542 (17.4)	12,333 (16.2)	12,969 (17.4)	10,769 (15.4)	9,724 (16.3)	12,750 (16.7)

Note: The criteria for the clinical diagnosis of MetS were the presence of any three or more of the following components for Asian individuals a) having a waist circumference of $greater than or equal to 90 centimeters$ in men and $greater than or equal to 80 centimeters$ in women, b) having a TG level of $greater than or equal to 150 milligrams per deciliter$ or receiving drug treatment for hypertriglyceridemia, c) having an HDL-C level of $less than 40 milligrams per deciliter$ ( $1.0 millimole per liter$ ) in males and $less than 50 milligrams per deciliter$ ( $1.3 millimole per liter$ ) in females or receiving drug treatment for decreased HDL-C, d) having a systolic BP level of $greater than or equal to 130$ or diastolic BP level of $greater than or equal to 85 milligrams per mercury$ or receiving drug treatment for hypertension, and e) having an FBG level of $greater than or equal to 100 milligrams per deciliter$ or receiving drug treatment for hyperglycemia.²⁹ The same criteria were used individually to classify change in each component (event to happen) for the other cohorts as well. BP, blood pressure; FBG, fasting blood glucose; HDL-C, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; MetS, metabolic syndrome; SD, standard deviation; TG, triglyceride.

^{^a}

Missing information on covariates were initially represented by the previous value available of each participant. Participants without available value for representation were not eligible for data analysis depending on the covariates included in the models in Table 3 and Tables S3 and S4.

^{^b}

Never drinking/former drinking: teetotaler, abstainer, or drank less than once weekly; occasional drinking: drank once or twice weekly; frequent drinking/daily drinking: drank more than three times weekly.

^{^c}

The northern region included Taipei, New Taipei, Keelung, Hsinchu, and Taoyuan Cities and Hsinchu County.

^{^d}

The central region included Taichung City and Miaoli, Changhua, Nantou, and Yunlin Counties.

^{^e}

The southern region included Kaohsiung, Tainan, and Chiayi Cities and Chiayi and Pingtung Counties.