Table 1

Baseline characteristics of 23521 male and 19201 female participants.* Mean values, by cigarette consumption recorded at screening†

	Number of cigarettes smoked daily
	0	1–4	5–9	10–14	15–19	20–24	25+
*Participants not reporting cardiovascular disease, diabetes or treatment for hypertension, nor symptoms of angina pectoris and atherosclerosis obliterans.
†Number of participants within the consumption groups (see table 2).
‡Physical activity during leisure and at work was graded 1–4, with 4 as the heaviest activity.
BMI, body mass index; BP, blood pressure.
Males
Age (years)	42.3	43.5	43.2	43.0	42.6	42.6	42.4
Duration of smoking (years)		18.7	21.6	22.7	22.8	23.3	23.9
Systolic BP (mm Hg)	134.9	134.8	135.2	135.2	135.4	135.2	135.2
Diastolic BP (mm Hg)	85.6	84.9	84.2	84.1	84.1	85.0	85.5
Total serum cholesterol (mmol/l)	6.65	6.67	6.97	7.04	7.04	7.14	7.13
Serum triglycerides (mmol/l)	2.16	2.28	3.31	2.36	2.39	2.46	2.44
Serum glucose (mmol/l)	5.79	5.77	5.78	5.81	5.82	5.80	5.82
Physical activity leisure‡	2.22	2.13	2.09	2.04	1.97	1.91	1.79
Physical activity work‡	2.20	2.17	2.43	2.39	2.27	2.23	2.15
BMI (kg/m²)	24.9	24.7	24.5	24.5	24.6	24.9	25.2
Height (cm)	176.4	176.3	175.0	175.4	175.9	175.9	176.4
Females
Age (years)	42.2	42.3	42.0	41.5	41.4	41.5	41.0
Duration of smoking (years)		12.5	16.3	18.3	19.5	19.5	20.1
Systolic BP (mm Hg)	132.0	129.3	130.0	129.0	128.9	128.6	128.7
Diastolic BP (mm Hg)	81.4	80.1	80.0	79.5	79.7	80.5	81.4
Total serum cholesterol (mmol/l)	6.63	6.74	6.88	6.92	6.95	6.99	7.00
Serum triglycerides (mmol/l)	1.55	1.64	1.74	1.76	1.76	1.84	1.91
Serum glucose (mmol/l)	5.76	5.69	5.71	5.65	5.69	5.71	5.65
Physical activity leisure‡	1.91	1.93	1.89	1.85	1.77	1.74	1.75
Physical activity work‡	2.22	2.18	2.12	2.10	2.01	2.03	2.08
BMI (kg/m²)	25.0	24.7	24.0	23.7	23.7	23.7	24.5
Height (cm)	162.5	162.7	162.1	162.6	162.8	163.5	163.0