Table 2 Relevant baseline variables according to the serum B12 group

M/F

284/310

4442/4092

6827/6639

608/1060

% females

52.2

47.9

49.3

63.5

9.0 × 10⁻²⁵

Age 18–39 years (%)

23.1

38.2

39.2

21.1

1.0 × 10⁻⁷¹

Age 40–59 years (%)

30.3

31.3

30.0

31.3

Age ≥ 60 years (%)

46.6

30.5

30.8

47.6

Body mass index (kg/m²)

28.8 ± 6.8

29.1 ± 7.0

28.2 ± 6.5

27.9 ± 6.3

4.7 × 10⁻²³

Waist circumference (cm)

100 ± 16

99 ± 16

96 ± 16

96 ± 15

1.2 × 10⁻³⁷

SBP (mmHg)

128 ± 20

125 ± 19

124 ± 19

127 ± 21

1.0 × 10⁻¹²

DBP (mmHg)

70 ± 11

71 ± 12

70 ± 12

70 ± 12

1.1 × 10⁻⁴

C-reactive protein (mg/dl)

0.20 (0.09–0.44)

0.21 (0.08–0.50)

0.20 (0.08–0.47)

0.24 (0.09–0.56)

0.006

Serum folate (nmol/l)

34.1 (24.2–46.0)

34.3 (24.7–46.8)

41.9 (30.0–58.0)

55.1 (37.1–77.8)

3.0 × 10⁻²⁰⁹

Methylmalonic acid (nmol/l)¹

272 (172–522)

150 (112–207)

124 (98–162)

122 (94–160)

3.8 × 10⁻¹⁹⁴

Homocysteine (μmol/l)²

13.0 (9.5–18.3)

8.7 (7.1–11.0)

7.7 (6.4–9.4)

7.3 (5.8–9.1)

8.8 × 10⁻¹⁰⁹

Annual family income

0.035

 < 25k (%)

43.8

39.6

37.9

38.1

 25–75k (%)

39.1

40.1

41.2

40.8

 > 75k (%)

17.1

20.3

20.9

21.1

Never smoking (%)

51.1

47.0

51.3

56.9

8.7 × 10⁻¹⁵

Former smoking (%)

21.5

20.9

21.3

25.4

0.001

Current smoking (%)

26.4

30.0

24.9

16.7

9.3 × 10⁻³³

Use of vitamin B12-containing supplements (%)

17.0

20.3

35.2

59.5

2.6 × 10⁻²⁶⁴

Diabetes diagnosis (%)

21.9

15.2

15.3

22.8

8.6 × 10⁻¹⁸

Hypertension diagnosis (%)

43.1

34.3

32.6

45.4

4.3 × 10⁻²⁸

Lipid diagnosis (%)

32.8

29.9

29.7

37.0

1.3 × 10⁻⁸

CVD diagnosis (%)

16.5

10.4

9.9

15.0

2.0 × 10⁻¹³

Cancer diagnosis (%)

10.1

7.6

7.9

11.5

4.8 × 10⁻⁷

Lung diagnosis (%)

14.5

11.7

11.3

13.9

0.002