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Table 1 Age standardizeda reproductive and lifestyle characteristics of the EPIC study population by country

From: Reproductive factors and risk of mortality in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition; a cohort study

 

Total

Denmark

France

Germany

Greece

Italy

Norway

Spain

Sweden

The Netherlands

United Kingdom

No. of participants

322,972

27,887

66,878

26,766

13,893

30,008

35,215

23,828

19,930

26,223

52,344

Number of deaths

14,383

1,879

2,913

671

527

834

756

625

1,583

1,419

3,176

Mean (SD)

           

 Age at recruitment, years

50.3 (9.6)

56.2 (4.4)

52.1 (6.6)

48.1 (8.9)

51.6 (12.3)

50.0 (8.0)

47.6 (4.3)

47.5 (8.3)

54.9 (8.1)

50.2 (11.6)

47.1 (14.1)

 Duration OC use, yearsb,c

7.7 (7.3)

9.4 (6.4)

7.4 (6.3)

12.4 (8.5)

2.5 (2.8)

4.1 (4.8)

5.0 (4.5)

3.7 (3.6)

9.7 (8.3)

9.9 (7.3)

7.6 (6.8)

 Number of FTPsc,d,e

2.3 (1.0)

2.2 (0.6)

2.3 (0.9)

2.0 (0.9)

2.3 (1.0)

2.1 (0.9)

2.4 (0.8)

2.8 (1.3)

2.2 (0.9)

2.6 (1.2)

2.3 (1.0)

 Age at first FTPc,d

24.9 (4.4)

23.8 (3.1)

24.9 (3.7)

24.2 (4.4)

24.1 (4.7)

25.8 (4.3)

24.0 (3.7)

24.9 (3.8)

24.6 (4.1)

25.4 (4.3)

25.6 (4.9)

 Breastfeeding, monthsc,f

9.6 (10.6)

9.4 (6.3)

5.5 (5.2)

5.4 (6.4)

13.7 (16.3)

9.1 (8.5)

13.6 (9.5)

13.1 (12.8)

9.7 (7.3)

6.6 (6.9)

9.9 (12.9)

 Age at menarche, yearsc

13.1 (1.5)

13.7 (1.2)

12.9 (1.3)

13.2 (1.5)

13.2 (1.6)

12.6 (1.5)

13.3 (1.1)

13.0 (1.6)

13.3 (1.5)

13.3 (1.6)

12.9 (1.6)

 Age at menopause, yearsc,g

49.4 (4.4)

49.9 (3.9)

50.2 (4.3)

50.1 (3.2)

48.0 (4.7)

49.2 (4.1)

48.6 (3.3)

48.8 (4.4)

–

49.1 (4.5)

49.2 (4.6)

 BMI, kg/m2

24.9 (4.4)

25.5 (3.2)

23.0 (3.2)

25.7 (4.6)

28.5 (5.2)

25.6 (4.3)

24.5 (3.1)

28.5 (4.6)

24.7 (4.2)

25.1 (4.2)

24.6 (4.2)

Percentages

           

 Ever use OCsc

59

58

60

80

11

40

60

36

61

76

68

 Parousc

85

88

90

86

90

87

92

89

86

81

78

 Ever breastfedc,e

85

93

72

84

88

84

94

89

95

81

83

 Infertilityc,h

5

–

6

1

4

6

–

4

–

3

5

 Premenopausal

35

7

27

37

38

38

23

42

27

37

38

 Postmenopausal

43

73

45

42

45

43

44

41

48

40

43

 Surgical menopausei

3

5

3

3

6

4

0

6

0

2

4

 Perimenopausal/unknown menopause

19

16

25

17

12

15

32

11

26

20

15

 Hysterectomyc,j

11

14

10

16

9

9

5

10

–

16

16

 Oophorectomyc,j

7

10

6

8

8

8

1

9

–

8

8

 Current smokerc,k

20

31

9

18

19

26

32

15

25

29

11

 Marital status: single

9

0

17

8

4

6

0

0

7

12

9

 Ever marriedl

72

0

80

92

96

93

81

0

92

87

90

 Marital status: unknown

19

100

4

0

0

1

19

100

0

0

0

  1. BMI, Body mass index; FTP, Full term pregnancy; OCs, Oral contraceptives
  2. aAll variables (with the exception of age) were age standardized using 5-year age groups to the age distribution of the entire study population
  3. bAmong ever users of OCs
  4. cVariables had missing data (≤4.2 % missing) with the exception of ever breastfed among parous (6.1 % missing), duration OC use in ever users (9.5 % missing), and age at natural menopause (26.3 % missing)
  5. dFTPs includes live births and stillbirths
  6. eAmong parous women
  7. fAmong women with a FTP who had ever breastfed
  8. gPostmenopausal women only; exclusions were participants from Sweden (no data for hysterectomy/oophorectomy), those who reported a surgical menopause (hysterectomy/oophorectomy), or if information on surgical menopause was not available
  9. hDenmark, Sweden, Norway and the Bilthoven study centre were excluded since data were not available
  10. iDefined as bilateral oophorectomy only
  11. jSweden was excluded from these comparisons because data were not available
  12. kCurrent smoking included smoking of cigarettes, pipes, or cigars
  13. lEver married includes living together, divorced, separated, and widowed
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BMC Medicine

ISSN: 1741-7015

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