Table 1 Baseline characteristics stratified by sex of intervention and reference population (1998) who completed follow-up in 2003
| Â | Men | Women | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Intervention (n = 1187) | Reference (n = 349) | Intervention (n = 1169) | Reference (n = 409) |
Demographics | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Age (years) | 50.6 (9.8)* | 52.2 (9.9) | 50.6 (9.7) | 51.3 (10.4) |
   Low socio-economic status (%) | 44.6 | 43 | 60.7 | 61.3 |
   Current smoking (%) | 23.9 | 24.7 | 26.7 | 22 |
   BMIa overweightb (%) | 64 | 60 | 48 | 51 |
Diseases (self reported) | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Myocardial infarction (%) | 3.1 | 3.4 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
   Stroke (%) | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 1.0 |
   Cancer (%) | 2* | 4 | 4.2 | 5.6 |
   Diabetes mellitus (%) | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 2.2 |
Quality of Life | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Physical functioning (PF) | 89.2 (15.5) | 89.7 (16.0) | 85.0 (17.7) | 85.9 (18.6) |
   Social functioning (SF) | 88.6 (19.0) | 90.2 (16.4) | 84.7 (21.0) | 82.6 (21.9) |
   Role limitations physical (RP) | 86.8 (28.6) | 86.9 (27.2) | 80.2 (35.2) | 78.9 (34.7) |
   Role limitations emotional (RE) | 89.4 (26.8) | 91.3 (22.7) | 85.4 (31.9) | 85.4 (31.1) |
   General mental health (MH) | 78.7 (15.6) | 80.0 (13.5) | 73.3 (16.9) | 74.3 (15.1) |
   Vitality (VT) | 68.9 (17.6)* | 70.9 (15.8) | 63.5 (18.3) | 63.5 (16.9) |
   Bodily pain (BP) | 84.7 (21.0) | 86.7 (18.2) | 79.5 (23.4) | 78.2 (21.5) |
   General health perception (GH) | 69.5 (17.2)* | 72.7 (15.9) | 68.1 (18.1) | 69.4 (17.2) |
   MCSa | 51.3 (9.0) | 52.2 (7.9) | 49.1 (10.0) | 49.0 (9.5) |
   PCSa | 51.0 (7.4) | 51.5 (7.4) | 49.6 (8.9) | 49.5 (9.1) |