General characteristics of the study populations
| Characteristic | Cardiff, UK | Kuopio, FIN | Rotterdam, NL | All |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Values are unadjusted proportions or means with standard deviations in parentheses of all subjects combined. *Only men participated in the study. | ||||
| Case/control | 57/124 | 66/134 | 108/321 | 231/579 |
| Age (y) | 59.9 (5.0) | 55.0 (4.1) | 73.6 (10.1) | 65.9 (11.3) |
| Female (%) | * | * | 64.6 | 34.1 |
| Systolic pressure (mm Hg) | 148 (23) | 132 (17) | 144 (24) | 143 (23) |
| Diastolic pressure (mm Hg) | 85.5 (12.7) | 88.6 (10.4) | 74.4 (13.2) | 80.4 (14.0) |
| Total cholesterol (mmol/l) | 5.8 (1.2) | 6.1 (1.2) | 6.6 (1.3) | 6.3 (1.3) |
| HDL cholesterol (mmol/l) | 1.01 (0.24) | 1.27 (0.28) | 1.33 (0.35) | 1.27 (0.34) |
| Current smoking (%) | 39.8 | 25.5 | 23.0 | 27.4 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 26.5 (3.5) | 27.0 (3.5) | 26.1 (3.6) | 26.4 (3.6) |
| Diabetes mellitus (%) | 4.4 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 7.1 |
| History of MI (%) | 8.8 | 13.0 | 13.9 | 12.5 |
| History of stroke (%) | 3.3 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 5.0 |
| γ-GT (IU/ml) | 32.8 (33.9) | 29.9 (27.1) | 29.3 (26.9) | 30.2 (28.7) |