Baseline (phase 3) and follow-up (phase 7) characteristics of the 4469 study participants
| Baseline (1991–3) | Phase 7 (2003–4) | |||
| N | %/Mean (SD) | N | %/Mean (SD) | |
| Sex | ||||
| Men | 3217 | 72.0 | – | – |
| Women | 1252 | 28.0 | – | – |
| Age (years) | ||||
| <45 | 1198 | 26.8 | – | – |
| 45–55 | 2169 | 48.5 | – | – |
| ≥55 | 1102 | 24.7 | – | – |
| All | 4469 | 49.3 (5.9) | – | – |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| White | 4189 | 93.7 | – | – |
| Non-white | 280 | 6.3 | – | – |
| Education | ||||
| No or lower secondary | 1969 | 44.1 | – | – |
| A-levels | 1171 | 26.2 | – | – |
| University or higher | 1329 | 29.7 | – | – |
| BMI (kg/m2) | ||||
| Normal (<25) | 2463 | 55.1 | 1718 | 38.4 |
| Overweight (25–30) | 1667 | 37.3 | 1999 | 44.7 |
| Obese (≥30) | 339 | 7.6 | 752 | 16.8 |
| All | 4469 | 25.0 (3.5) | 4469 | 26.5 (4.2) |
| Current smoking | ||||
| No | 4000 | 89.5 | 4159 | 93.1 |
| Yes | 469 | 10.5 | 310 | 6.9 |
| Long-standing illness | ||||
| No | 2993 | 67.0 | 1767 | 39.5 |
| Yes | 1476 | 33.0 | 2702 | 60.5 |
| Total cholesterol concentrations (mmol/l) | 4469 | 6.4 (1.1) | 4469 | 5.7 (1.0) |
| HDL-cholesterol concentrations (mmol/l) | 4469 | 1.4 (0.4) | 4469 | 1.6 (0.4) |
| Triglyceride concentrations (mmol/l) | 4469 | 1.3 (0.7) | 4469 | 1.3 (0.7) |
| LDL-cholesterol concentrations (mmol/l) | 4469 | 4.4 (1.0) | 4469 | 3.5 (0.9) |
| Lipid-lowering drugs use | ||||
| No | 4435 | 99.2 | 3987 | 89.2 |
| Yes | 34 | 0.8 | 482 | 10.8 |
| AHEI score, mean (SD) | 4469 | 50.7 (11.9) | 4469 | 51.2 (12.5) |
| Physical activity (h/week) | 4469 | 3.4 (3.4) | 4469 | 3.7 (3.1) |
AHEI, alternate healthy eating index; BMI, body mass index; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein.