Table 1 Baseline characteristics of study participants by quartiles of VAT^ mass

Age (year)

55.0 (8.4)

56.7 (8.2)

57.8 (7.8)

58.7 (7.4)

52.6 (8.1)

56.7 (7.8)

58.4 (7.5)

58.9 (7.3)

Post-menopause (%)

–

–

–

–

53.5

74.9

81.6

83.3

Household income (£)* (%)

 < 18,000

15.0

15.1

17.5

22.6

13.3

17.9

21.8

26.8

18,000–30,999

20.7

21.6

22.6

23.1

19.0

21.8

23.7

23.3

31,000–51,999

25.3

25.4

24.2

22.3

24.2

22.3

20.2

18.2

52,000–100,000

22.7

21.6

19.7

16.1

22.4

17.0

12.7

10.3

 > 100,000

6.5

6.1

5.0

3.8

7.2

4.1

2.9

1.9

BMI (kg/m²)

23.5 (1.9)

26.3 (1.5)

28.5 (1.7)

33.1 (3.7)

22.2 (2.1)

24.8 (2.1)

27.5 (2.5)

33.1 (4.7)

VAT^ mass (g)

711.7 (364.3)

1387.2 (147.0)

1916.2 (169.9)

2913.4 (645.4)

214.4 (156.7)

542.6

(83.2)

886.9 (110.5)

1555.9 (460.2)

Lean mass (kg)

59.3 (6.3)

61.8 (6.2)

64.3 (6.3)

69.9 (7.6)

42.3 (3.8)

42.8 (3.8)

44.2 (3.9)

48.6 (5.3)

Smoking status (%)

Never

57.6

51.8

46.0

39.7

64.5

60.7

57.6

53.8

Previous

28.4

36.2

42.4

48.8

26.6

30.8

33.7

37.0

Current

13.8

11.7

11.2

10.9

8.7

8.3

8.4

8.8

Alcohol consumption (%)

Less than 3 times/month

20.3

17.5

18.8

24.5

28.6

30.2

33.8

45.0

1–2 times/week

25.8

25.9

25.9

27.6

27.1

26.8

27.1

25.5

More than 3 times/week

53.9

56.5

55.2

47.8

44.3

42.9

39.1

29.4

Physical activity (MET-min/week)

3211.9 (3111.2)

2943.7 (2949.2)

2760.8 (2913.2)

2404.0 (2774.5)

2821.3 (2569.8)

2630.3 (2468.0)

2492.6 (2426.3)

2158.3 (2318.7)

Calcium user (%)

1.0

0.7

0.7

0.7

3.9

3.6

3.2

2.8

Vitamin D user (%)

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.7

2.9

2.8

2.6

2.0

Baseline overall health rating (%)

Excellent

26.2

18.8

12.5

6.5

28.3

21.6

15.5

8.2

Good

57.0

60.9

59.5

48.9

59.7

63.4

63.9

55.6

Fair

13.9

17.3

23.5

34.6

10.1

13.0

17.8

29.1

Poor

2.7

2.7

4.1

9.4

1.6

1.8

2.5

6.6

T2D (%)

2.1

3.4

5.8

14.3

1.0

1.3

2.1

8.3

CVD (%)

4.4

6.5

9.1

13.7

1.2

2.0

3.4

5.9

Cancer (%)

5.7

5.9

6.5

6.9

7.1

8.6

9.5

9.9