Table 2 Baseline characteristics per Healthy Lifestyle Index Score Category of the subcohort in the Netherlands Cohort Study on Diet and Cancer (1986–2006). Differences between categories were tested with the Chi-Square test for categorical variables and with the Kruskal–Wallis Test for continuous variables

Demographic Characteristics

 Age at Baseline (years)

60.8

(4.2)

61.3

(4.2)

61.3

(4.2)

61.5

(4.3)

0.002

 Male Sex (yes)

402

(74.3)

597

(58.4)

598

(44.2)

266

(31.3)

 < 0.001

 Educational Level

  Primary School

155

(28.7)

308

(30.1)

352

(26.0)

217

(25.5)

0.18

  Lower Vocational School

109

(20.1)

205

(20.0)

298

(22.0)

190

(22.3)

  Intermediate Vocational School

184

(34.0)

353

(34.5)

493

(36.5)

329

(38.7)

  Higher Vocational School or University

89

(16.5)

150

(14.7)

205

(15.2)

113

(13.3)

  Unknown

4

(0.7)

7

(0.7)

4

(0.3)

2

(0.2)

Lifestyle characteristics

 Energy intake (kcal/day)

2057

(537)

1958

(521)

1886

(505)

1851

(460)

 Dietary fibre intake (g/day)

23.0

(5.4)

25.3

(5.8)

27.7

(6.7)

29.9

(6.6)

 Red and processed meat intake (g/day)

115.4

(40.5)

105.6

(40.0)

98.3

(39.6)

82.9

(41.1)

 Ratio of poly-unsaturated/saturated fat

0.45

(0.21)

0.50

(0.24)

0.56

(0.27)

0.64

(0.30)

 Intake of transfats (g/day)

3.23

(1.55)

3.05

(1.15)

2.87

(1.05)

2.63

(0.90)

 Glycaemic load

122.4

(28.9)

121.3

(27.3)

117.9

(26.6)

116.6

(24.7)

 Vegetables and fruits intake (g/day)

272

(111)

323

(129)

383

(146)

446

(157)

 Use of alcohol (yes)

515

(95.2)

855

(83.6)

994

(73.5)

519

(61.0)

 Intake of alcohol (consumers only, g/day)

23.4

(19.8)

15.6

(14.9)

10.9

(12.2)

6.0

(7.6)

 Cigarette smoking

  Never

21

(3.9)

191

(18.7)

576

(42.6)

574

(67.5)

  Former

157

(29.0)

431

(42.1)

555

(41.1)

247

(29.0)

  Current

363

(67.1)

401

(39.2)

221

(16.3)

30

(3.5)

 Number of cigarettes (users only, /day)^a

20

(15–25)

15

(10–20)

10

(7–15)

8

(5–10)

 Years of cigarette smoking (users only)

 Non-occupational physical activity (min/day)^a

34.3

(19.3–49.3)

47.1

(30.0–75.7)

64.3

(41.4–94.3)

88.6

(60.0–124.3)

 Body mass index (kg/m²)

26.4

(3.1)

25.4

(3.1)

24.9

(2.9)

23.5

(2.6)

 Intake of sodium (mg/day)

2364

(629)

2319

(623)

2319

(613)

2273

(605)

0.01

 Intake of potassium (mg/day)

3420

(559)

3462

(558)

3544

(599)

3596

(610)

 < 0.001

 Intake of magnesium (mg/day)

293

(51)

303

(50)

315

(57)

326

(58)

 < 0.001

Medical characteristics

 History of Hypertension and/or History of Antihypertensive Drug Use (yes)

159

(29.4)

321

(31.4)

447

(33.1)

272

(32.0)

0.47

 History of Diabetes (yes)

17

(3.1)

29

(2.8)

44

(3.3)

33

(3.9)

0.65

 History of Kidney Stones (yes)

47

(8.7)

107

(10.5)

107

(7.9)

65

(7.6)

0.10

 Familial History of Cancer (yes)

236

(43.6)

403

(39.4)

530

(39.2)

355

(41.7)

0.36

 Familial History of Renal Cancer (yes)

3

(0.6)

14

(1.4)

18

(1.3)

5

(0.6)

0.17