Table 1 Characteristics of 2901 men and 3406 women from the health survey for England 1998 who had complete risk factor data recorded. Values are means (SDs) unless stated otherwise


 Men (n=2901)
Women (n=3406)
No (%) smokers
671 (23.1)
784 (23.0)
No (%) with diabetes
73 (2.5)
62 (1.8)
No (%) with Framingham 10 year coronary heart disease risk ≥ 15%
824 (28.4)
229 (6.7)
Age (years)
49 (12.3)
49 (12.2)
Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg)
137 (16.8)
132 (19.1)
Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg)
79 (11.4)
73 (11.2)
Total cholesterol (mmol/l)
5.7 (1.05)
5.7 (1.14)
High density lipoprotein cholesterol (mmol/l)
1.3 (0.36)
1.6 (0.41)
Ratio of total cholesterol to high density lipoprotein cholesterol
4.8 (1.71)
3.9 (1.39)