Baseline characteristics of UK Biobank and Whitehall II participants 70 years and older
| Participants without CVD | Participants with prior CVD | |
| Number of participants | 15 019 | 5103 |
| Age, years | 72.5 (2.5) | 72.9 (2.7) |
| ≥75 years | 3149 (21%) | 1345 (26%) |
| Male sex | 7838 (52%) | 3389 (66%) |
| Ethnicity | ||
| White | 14 686 (98%) | 4916 (96%) |
| Black | 55 (0%) | 13 (0%) |
| South Asian | 166 (1%) | 134 (3%) |
| Other* | 112 (1%) | 40 (1%) |
| Townsend socioeconomic deprivation | ||
| Quintile 1 (least deprived) | 6370 (42%) | 1926 (38%) |
| Quintile 2 | 3066 (20%) | 1005 (20%) |
| Quintile 3 | 2879 (19%) | 1123 (22%) |
| Quintile 4 | 1774 (12%) | 693 (14%) |
| Quintile 5 | 930 (6%) | 356 (7%) |
| Smoking status | ||
| Never | 8523 (57%) | 2486 (49%) |
| Former smoker | 6034 (40%) | 2444 (48%) |
| Current smoker | 462 (3%) | 173 (3%) |
| Physical activity | ||
| High | 5257 (35%) | 1694 (33%) |
| Moderate | 5486 (37%) | 1934 (38%) |
| Low | 1806 (12%) | 688 (13%) |
| Missing | 2470 (16%) | 787 (15%) |
| Unhealthy diet (incl. uncertain) | 4363 (29%) | 1765 (35%) |
| BMI (kg/m†) | 27 (4.1) | 27 (4.3) |
| <18.5 | 99 (1%) | 24 (0%) |
| 18.5–25 | 5642 (38%) | 1478 (29%) |
| 25–30 | 6674 (44%) | 2380 (47%) |
| 30–35 | 2084 (14%) | 941 (18%) |
| 35–40 | 422 (3%) | 222 (4%) |
| 40+ | 98 (1%) | 58 (1%) |
| LDL-C (mmol/L) | 3.7 (0.65) | 3.2 (0.74) |
| HDL-C (mmol/L) | 1.7 (0.31) | 1.6 (0.32) |
| On statin treatment | 4289 (29%) | 2979 (58%) |
| Derived untreated LDL-C (mmol/L)† | 4.2 (0.78) | 4.3 (0.98) |
| Creatinine (umol/L) | 78 (13) | 84 (19) |
| Systolic BP (mm Hg) | 146 (18) | 142 (19) |
| Diastolic BP (mm Hg) | 79 (10) | 77 (11) |
| Treated hypertension | 4076 (27%) | 2631 (52%) |
| Prior diabetes | 1154 (8%) | 782 (15%) |
| Prior cancer | 2040 (14%) | 774 (15%) |
| Severe mental illness | 1206 (8%) | 452 (9%) |
| Prior CVD history | ||
| MI only | 103 (2%) | |
| PAD only | 380 (7%) | |
| Other CHD‡ only | 2910 (57%) | |
| Stroke only | 343 (7%) | |
| Two or more of MI, PAD other CHD or stroke | 1367 (27%) |
Values are mean (SD) or number (%).
*Other ethnicity includes Chinese, Mixed, White and Black Caribbean, White and Black African, White and Asian, any other mixed background and other ethnic group.
†Adjusted for use of statin treatment at baseline by statin type and dose.
‡Other CHD includes acute rheumatic fever, chronic rheumatic heart diseases, hypertensive heart disease, angina pectoris, other acute ischaemic heart disease, chronic ischaemic heart disease, pulmonary heart disease and other form of heart disease.
BP, blood pressure; CHD, coronary heart disease; CVD, cardiovascular disease; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; MI, myocardial infarction; PAD, peripheral arterial disease.