Baseline characteristics of participants by quartiles of telomere length
| 1st quartile (longest) | 2nd quartile | 3rd quartile | 4th quartile (shortest) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n=11599 | n=11600 | n=11599 | n=11598 | p For trend | |
| Telomere length, base pairs | 5323 (5007–5842) | 4402 (4240–4568) | 3821 (3684–3956) | 3204 (2950–3387) | |
| Age, years | 53 (43–62) | 56 (46–65) | 60 (50–69) | 65 (56–73) | <1×10−300 |
| Men, n (%) | 5026 (43) | 5155 (44) | 5433 (47) | 5740 (49) | 1×10−22 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 25 (23–28) | 26 (23–28) | 26 (23–29) | 26 (23–29) | 5×10−48 |
| Smoking status | |||||
| Former smoking, n (%) | 4236 (37) | 4512 (39) | 4787 (41) | 5121 (44) | 3×10−33 |
| Current smoking, n (%) | 2857 (25) | 2758 (24) | 2909 (25) | 2841 (25) | 0.14 |
| Smoking inhalation, n (% of former or current smokers) | 5927 (84) | 5909 (81) | 6032 (78) | 5984 (75) | 1×10−39 |
| Cumulative smoking, pack-years | 5 (0–22) | 6 (0–24) | 9 (0–29) | 12 (0–32) | 4×10−103 |
| Occupational exposure to dust/fumes, n (%) | 1499 (13) | 1531 (13) | 1650 (14) | 1766 (15) | 4×10−7 |
| <8 years in school, n (%) | 1635 (14) | 1820 (16) | 2289 (20) | 2754 (24) | 4×10−94 |
| C-reactive protein, mg/l | 1.4 (0.8–2.6) | 1.5 (1.0–2.6) | 1.6 (1.1–2.8) | 1.7 (1.2–3.1) | 5×10−152 |
Continuous variables are shown as medians (IQR) and categorical variables are shown as numbers (%).