Table 1 Baseline characteristics of participants according to blood pressure category

	Blood pressure category ^a
Variable	Optimal (N=14764)	Normal/non-optimal (N=13607)	High-normal (N=14325)	Grade I hypertension (N=16729)	Grade II hypertension (N=6079)	Grade III hypertension (N=1805)	Total (N=67309)
Women, %	66.1	60.0	56.8	55.4	53.6	51.2	58.7
Age, mean (s.d.), years	53.7 (9.7)	55.5 (10.0)	58.0 (10.0)	59.9 (10.0)	61.5 (10.0)	62.1 (10.4)	57.4 (10.3)
Body mass index, mean (s.d.), kg m⁻²	22.2 (2.8)	23.0 (2.9)	23.3 (3.0)	23.7 (3.2)	24.0 (3.4)	24.1 (3.6)	23.2 (3.1)
Total cholesterol, mean (s.d.), mmol l⁻¹^b	5.05 (0.91)	5.11 (0.93)	5.21 (0.94)	5.23 (0.97)	5.24 (0.99)	5.27 (1.05)	5.16 (0.95)
Smoking
Never, %	69.5	66.2	64.4	63.1	61.1	58.0	65.1
Past, %	6.7	9.0	10.5	11.6	12.4	12.9	9.9
Current, %	23.8	24.8	25.2	25.3	26.5	29.1	25.1
Drinking
Never, %	61.5	57.7	55.6	54.8	53.7	51.5	56.8
Past, %	2.7	2.5	2.8	2.8	3.0	3.2	2.8
Current, %	35.8	39.8	41.6	42.4	43.3	45.3	40.4

^aBlood pressure categories were defined as follows; ‘Optimal’ as systolic blood pressure <120 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure <80 mm Hg; the corresponding systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were 120–129 and 80–84 mm Hg for ‘Normal/non-optimal,’ 130–139 or 85–89 mm Hg (whichever was greater) for ‘high-normal,’ 140–159 or 90–99 mm Hg for ‘grade I hypertension,’ 160–179 or 100–109 mm Hg for ‘grade II hypertension’ and ⩾180 or ⩾110 mm Hg for ‘grade III hypertension, respectively.’
^bThe conversion factor for total cholesterol level from mmol l⁻¹ to mg dl⁻¹ is 38.67.

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