Table 1

Descriptive statistics of the sample (n=72 762)

	Distribution (%) at the start of follow-up	Person-years of follow-up	No of deaths	Age-standardised mortality rates* (per 1000 person-years)
Sex
Male	48.6	275 459	2531	9.6
Female	51.4	295 002	1561	5.1
Age
30–44 years	38.4	223622	256	1.1
45–59 years	33.5	193 049	865	4.5
60–74 years	28.2	153 790	2971	19.3
Education
Primary	37.1	207 230	2749	7.8
Lower secondary	28.8	165 909	701	7.3
Upper secondary	26.5	153 509	504	6.4
Tertiary	7.6	43 813	138	5.9
Region
North	38.6	219 839	1594	7.2
Centre	18.9	107 932	747	6.7
South	42.6	242 690	1751	7.4
Smoking status
Never smoker	56.9	325 879	1927	5.5
Light current smoker	13.8	78 788	484	7.7
Heavy current smoker	12.8	72 431	627	11.7
Short-term former smoker	5.3	29 565	319	8.8
Long-term former smoker	11.4	63 798	735	13.5

*The age distribution of the total population at baseline (men and women combined) was used as reference population. Age-specific rates are reported for the variable age.