Table 1 Baseline characteristics of 413,109 participants without cardiovascular disease
Characteristics | Frequency of adding salt at the table | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Never/rarely | Sometimes | Usually | Always | |
Mean (SD) age (years) | 55.80 (8.08) | 55.70 (8.11) | 56.26 (8.05) | 55.15 (8.26) |
Male, N (%) | 100,439 (43.75) | 53,561 (46.14) | 24,371 (51.09) | 9578 (48.57) |
Ethnicity, N (%) | ||||
 White | 218,788 (95.29) | 107,962 (92.99) | 44,362 (93.00) | 17,052 (86.48) |
 Mixed | 1225 (0.53) | 799 (0.69) | 342 (0.72) | 207 (1.05) |
 Asian | 3151 (1.37) | 2906 (2.50) | 1322 (2.77) | 1056 (5.36) |
 Black | 3227 (1.41) | 2336 (2.01) | 781 (1.64) | 738 (3.74) |
 Chinese | 764 (0.33) | 372 (0.32) | 181 (0.38) | 113 (0.57) |
 Others | 1668 (0.73) | 1344 (1.16) | 546 (1.14) | 458 (2.32) |
 Missing | 770 (0.34) | 376 (0.32) | 169 (0.35) | 94 (0.48) |
Education, N (%) | ||||
 College or university | 81,589 (35.54) | 37,319 (32.15) | 14,718 (30.85) | 4151 (21.05) |
 Vocational | 25,199 (10.98) | 13529 (11.65) | 5859 (12.28) | 2491 (12.63) |
 Upper secondary | 27,414 (11.94) | 12,748 (10.98) | 5027 (10.54) | 1591 (8.07) |
 Lower secondary | 60,460 (26.33) | 31,504 (27.14) | 12,901 (27.04) | 5496 (27.87) |
 Others | 31,282 (13.62) | 18,791 (16.19) | 8315 (17.43) | 5443 (27.60) |
 Unknown | 3649 (1.59) | 2204 (1.90) | 883 (1.85) | 546 (2.77) |
Household income (£) | ||||
 <18,000 | 38,246 (16.66) | 20,775 (17.89) | 9187 (19.26) | 5079 (25.76) |
 18,000–30,999 | 48,415 (21.09) | 24,866 (21.42) | 10,500 (22.01) | 4242 (21.51) |
 31,000–51,999 | 53,849 (23.45) | 26,755 (23.05) | 10,606 (22.23) | 3682 (18.67) |
 52,000–100,000 | 44,504 (19.38) | 20,898 (18.00) | 8269 (17.33) | 2471 (12.53) |
 >100,000 | 11,988 (5.22) | 5551 (4.78) | 2215 (4.64) | 569 (2.89) |
 Missing | 32,591 (14.20) | 17,250 (14.86) | 6926 (14.52) | 3675 (18.64) |
Smoking status, N (%) | ||||
 Never | 139,329 (60.69) | 62,571 (53.90) | 22,234 (46.61) | 8303 (42.11) |
 Previous | 71,463 (31.13) | 40,161 (34.59) | 18,071 (37.88) | 6754 (34.25) |
 Current | 18,101 (7.88) | 12,924 (11.13) | 7222 (15.14) | 4550 (23.08) |
 Missing | 700 (0.30) | 439 (0.38) | 176 (0.37) | 111 (0.56) |
Mean (SD) alcohol consumption (g/day) | 15.09 (16.22) | 16.65 (17.48) | 19.12 (20.00) | 20.79 (25.84) |
Healthy diet scorea, mean (SD) | 3.21 (1.41) | 2.91 (1.37) | 2.72 (1.38) | 2.55 (1.39) |
Mean (SD) total physical activity (MET-min/week) | 2650.65 (2656.08) | 2662.88 (2733.42) | 2670.50 (2793.29) | 2921.16 (3223.61) |
Median (IQR) Townsend deprivation index | −2.32 (−3.74, 0.13) | −2.07 (−3.60, 0.60) | −1.95 (−3.55, 0.87) | −1.01 (−3.10, 2.32) |
Mean (SD) BMI (kg/m2) | 27.06 (4.68) | 27.51 (4.75) | 27.72 (4.76) | 27.93 (5.05) |
Family history of stroke, N (%) | 62,479 (27.21) | 30,719 (26.46) | 12,638 (26.49) | 4831 (24.50) |
Family history of heart disease, N (%) | 102,214 (44.52) | 50,152 (43.20) | 20,500 (42.97) | 8076 (40.96) |
Hypertension, N (%) | 62,903 (27.40) | 28,868 (24.87) | 11,558 (24.23) | 4769 (24.19) |
Diabetes, N (%) | 11,684 (5.09) | 6171 (5.32) | 2531 (5.31) | 1120 (5.68) |
Dyslipidemia, N (%) | 108,004 (47.04) | 56,630 (48.78) | 24,212 (50.76) | 10,234 (51.90) |
Mean (SD) estimated 24-h urinary sodium (mg/day) | 4092.82 (1211.57) | 4191.76 (1231.19) | 4236.76 (1260.74) | 4370.51 (1311.85) |