Baseline characteristics by categories of modified Mediterranean diet score among 74 607 participants in EPIC-elderly study and 4047 deaths
| Men | Women | |||||||||||
| Diet score 0-3 | Diet score 4-5 | Diet score 6-9 | Diet score 0-3 | Diet score 4-5 | Diet score 6-9 | |||||||
| Characteristic | No (%) | No of deaths | No (%) | No of deaths | No (%) | No of deaths | No (%) | No of deaths | No (%) | No of deaths | No (%) | No of deaths |
| Age: | ||||||||||||
| 60-64 | 5763 (36.1) | 443 | 6099 (38.2) | 388 | 4105 (25.7) | 169 | 11 580 (37.1) | 460 | 11 784 (37.7) | 361 | 7886 (25.2) | 202 |
| 65-69 | 1624 (29.9) | 183 | 1984 (36.5) | 183 | 1833 (33.7) | 101 | 4760 (34.3) | 312 | 5151 (37.1) | 265 | 3985 (28.7) | 122 |
| 70-74 | 701 (27.9) | 104 | 900 (35.8) | 136 | 912 (36.3) | 91 | 1249 (30.5) | 116 | 1550 (37.8) | 111 | 1303 (31.8) | 59 |
| ≥75 | 97 (15.5) | 32 | 217 (34.8) | 62 | 310 (49.7) | 47 | 166 (20.4) | 29 | 311 (38.2) | 36 | 337 (41.4) | 35 |
| Smoking status: | ||||||||||||
| Never | 2516 (32.0) | 176 | 2920 (37.2) | 162 | 2417 (30.8) | 88 | 10 292 (31.4) | 386 | 12 239 (37.3) | 404 | 10 253 (31.3) | 270 |
| Former | 3657 (31.1) | 300 | 4653 (39.6) | 387 | 3449 (29.3) | 241 | 4097 (38.1) | 235 | 4359 (40.5) | 211 | 2305 (21.4) | 99 |
| Current | 2012 (40.8) | 286 | 1627 (33.0) | 220 | 1294 (26.2) | 79 | 3366 (51.7) | 296 | 2198 (33.7) | 58 | 953 (14.6) | 49 |
| Educational achievement: | ||||||||||||
| None or primary school | 3828 (33.0) | 416 | 3857 (33.2) | 395 | 3922 (33.8) | 217 | 8073 (36.3) | 463 | 7785 (35.0) | 340 | 6367 (28.7) | 180 |
| Technical or professional school | 2008 (38.6) | 178 | 2177 (41.8) | 174 | 1023 (19.6) | 77 | 4835 (48.4) | 253 | 3835 (38.4) | 175 | 1327 (13.3) | 58 |
| Secondary school | 581 (23.5) | 46 | 944 (38.2) | 69 | 947 (38.3) | 41 | 2839 (26.9) | 130 | 4217 (40.0) | 145 | 3481 (33.0) | 110 |
| University degree | 1768 (33.6) | 122 | 2222 (42.3) | 131 | 1268 (24.1) | 73 | 2008 (27.5) | 71 | 2959 (40.5) | 13 | 2336 (32.0) | 70 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2): | ||||||||||||
| <25 | 2561 (34.7) | 265 | 2912 (39.5) | 262 | 1905 (25.8) | 129 | 7496 (35.1) | 402 | 8344 (39.0) | 318 | 5545 (25.9) | 186 |
| ≥25 | 5624 (32.8) | 497 | 6288 (36.6) | 507 | 5255 (30.6) | 279 | 10 259 (35.8) | 515 | 10 452 (36.5) | 455 | 7966 (27.8) | 232 |
| Waist to hip ratio* : | ||||||||||||
| <0.90 | 1716 (34.5) | 154 | 1883 (37.9) | 144 | 1374 (27.6) | 71 | 16 203 (35.9) | 811 | 17 076 (37.9) | 666 | 11 840 (26.2) | 364 |
| ≥0.90 | 6469 (33.1) | 608 | 7317 (37.4) | 625 | 5786 (29.6) | 337 | 1552 (31.4) | 106 | 1720 (34.8) | 107 | 1671 (33.8) | 54 |
| Energy intake (MJ): | ||||||||||||
| <8.374 | 2790 (36.6) | 238 | 2670 (35.0) | 231 | 2161 (28.4) | 128 | 12 196 (40.2) | 610 | 10 914 (36.0) | 49 | 7206 (23.8) | 208 |
| ≥8.374 | 5395 (31.9) | 524 | 6530 (38.6) | 538 | 4999 (29.5) | 280 | 5559 (28.2) | 307 | 7882 (39.9) | 324 | 6305 (31.9) | 210 |
| Physical activity at work: | ||||||||||||
| Retired or sedentary occupation | 6157 (33.4) | 617 | 7051 (38.2) | 623 | 5231 (28.4) | 339 | 14 527 (35.0) | 776 | 15 612 (37.6) | 664 | 11 411 (27.5) | 381 |
| Standing occupation | 1017 (33.0) | 80 | 1111 (36.0) | 72 | 957 (31.0) | 41 | 1913 (33.1) | 79 | 2290 (39.6) | 81 | 1580 (27.3) | 30 |
| Manual work | 795 (33.0) | 52 | 797 (33.0) | 58 | 820 (34.0) | 24 | 1072 (45.7) | 52 | 788 (33.6) | 25 | 484 (20.7) | 7 |
| Heavy manual work | 216 (35.5) | 13 | 241 (39.6) | 16 | 152 (25.0) | 4 | 243 (63.1) | 10 | 106 (27.5) | 3 | 36 (9.4) | 0 |
| Physical activity at leisure†: | ||||||||||||
| First third | 2470 (36.0) | 252 | 2493 (36.3) | 236 | 1901 (27.7) | 121 | 5482 (37.9) | 326 | 5266 (36.4) | 257 | 3732 (25.8) | 132 |
| Second third | 2643 (33.4) | 242 | 2973 (37.6) | 231 | 2300 (29.1) | 120 | 5828 (35.0) | 286 | 6289 (37.8) | 247 | 4520 (27.2) | 155 |
| Last third | 3072 (31.5) | 268 | 3734 (38.2) | 302 | 2959 (30.3) | 167 | 6445 (34.0) | 305 | 7241 (38.2) | 269 | 5259 (27.8) | 131 |
| Total | 8185 | 762 | 9200 | 769 | 7160 | 408 | 17 755 | 917 | 18 796 | 773 | 13 511 | 418 |
EPIC=European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition.
↵* Values for some participants were imputed from a linear regression model, with weight and height as independent variables and waist to hip ratio as dependent variable.
↵† Sex and centre specific thirds of scores for physical activity at leisure time.