Table 1 Background characteristics of subjects examined at baseline in 1988–91 at the age of 35 stratified by whether or not they had hypertension or diabetes (as diagnosed by a physician) by the age of 50

N

339

604

Male gender (%)

62

61

0.726

Married (%)

82

83

0.647

In working life (%)

96

93

0.207

Physical exercise at least 3 times/week (%)

25

28

0.442

Current daily smokers (%)

33

28

0.226

Self-reported health status at least quite good (%)

69

80

0.004

Alcohol consumption as grams/week (SD)

95.3 (96.2)

79.2 (90.0)

0.047

Height (cm), mean (SD)

172.8 (9.5)

172.8 (9.2)

0.910

BMI (kg/m²), mean (SD)

26.1 (4.4)

23.8 (3.2)

<0.001

Diastolic BP (mm Hg), mean (SD)

86 (10)

78 (8)

<0.001

Systolic BP (mm Hg), mean (SD)

135 (13)

124 (10)

<0.001

Hypertension (%)

9

0

<0.001

Diabetes (%)

2

0

0.016

Serum cholesterol (mmol/l), mean (SD)

5.5 (1.0)

5.2 (1.0)

0.001