Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics of the Study Population According to Presence or Absence of Metabolic Syndrome
| Metabolic syndrome |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Absent (n=20191) | Present (n=6920) | P-value | |
| Age, years | 53 (49, 58) | 54 (50, 60) | <0.0001 |
| 0.009 | |||
| Smoking, % | |||
| Current | 11.3 | 12.5 | |
| Past | 37.2 | 35.7 | |
| Never | 51.6 | 51.8 | |
| Exercise frequency in times/week, %* | <0.0001 | ||
| Rarely/never | 34.1 | 46.6 | |
| <1 | 19.1 | 20.9 | |
| 1–3 | 33.9 | 26.0 | |
| >3 | 13.0 | 6.7 | |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 23.7 (21.9, 25.8) | 29.9 (27.4, 33.5) | <0.0001 |
| HDL-Cholesterol, mg/dL | 56 (48, 66) | 42 (36, 47) | <0.0001 |
| Triglycerides, mg/dL | 103 (75, 140) | 193 (153, 260) | <0.0001 |
| Total cholesterol, mg/dL | 205 (182, 232) | 217 (191, 244) | <0.0001 |
| Metabolic Syndrome Traits | |||
| Body mass index >26.7 kg/m2, % | 17.1 | 81.2 | <0.0001 |
| HDL-Cholesterol <50 mg/dL, % | 29.5 | 88.0 | <0.0001 |
| Triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL, % | 20.1 | 77.7 | <0.0001 |
| Elevated blood pressure, %† | 24.0 | 77.8 | <0.0001 |
| Dysglycemia, %‡ | 1.6 | 28.2 | <0.0001 |
| History of baseline diabetes | 0.6 | 7.3 | |
| Incident diabetes | 1.0 | 20.9 | |
Data are median (interquartile range) or percentages
HDL High density lipoprotein
*
The following question was used to categorize exercise frequency: “How often do you engage in strenuous (aerobic) physical activity (e.g. swimming, aerobics, cycling, running)?”
†
Defined as blood pressure ≥130/85 mmHg or history of a physician’s diagnosis of hypertension
‡
Dysglycemia defined by history of diabetes at baseline or incident diabetes during follow-up