Distribution of education, obesity, lifestyle factors and chronic diseases by sex in the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (n=6750) at age 46 years
| Males | Females | p-value | |
| Subjects | 3079 (45.6) | 3671 (54.4) | <0.001 |
| Education | <0.001 | ||
| Basic | 305 (9.9) | 223 (6.1) | |
| Secondary | 2069 (67.4) | 2330 (63.6) | |
| Tertiary | 694 (22.6) | 1113 (30.4) | |
| Obesity | |||
| BMI >30 kg·m−2 | 502 (21.0) | 644 (20.7) | 0.767 |
| Waist# | 1410 (59.7) | 2079 (67.7) | <0.001 |
| Smoking, current or former¶ | 1586 (59.8) | 1580 (47.7) | <0.001 |
| Excessive alcohol consumption+ | 513 (16.7) | 287 (7.8) | <0.001 |
| Asthma | 202 (6.6) | 312 (8.5) | 0.003 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 339 (11.0) | 316 (8.6) | 0.001 |
| Cardiac arrhythmias | 171 (5.6) | 188 (5.1) | 0.430 |
| Ischaemic heart disease | 105 (3.4) | 46 (1.3) | <0.001 |
| Valve disease | 37 (1.2) | 34 (0.9) | 0.269 |
| Hypertensive disease | 8 (0.3) | 4 (0.1) | 0.143 |
| Cardiomyopathy and heart failure | 29 (0.9) | 25 (0.7) | 0.231 |
| Other | 60 (1.9) | 82 (2.2) | 0.416 |
| Liver disease | 43 (1.4) | 41 (1.1) | 0.302 |
| Kidney disease | 37 (1.2) | 45 (1.2) | 0.928 |
| Sarcoidosis | 33(1.1) | 23(0.6) | 0.035 |
| Autoimmune disease | |||
| Rheumatoid arthritis | 28 (0.9) | 85 (2.3) | <0.001 |
| Psoriasis | 48 (1.6) | 48 (1.3) | 0.317 |
| Coeliac disease | 17 (0.6) | 42 (1.2) | 0.012 |
| Vasculitis | 10 (0.3) | 28 (0.8) | 0.021 |
| Purpura | 15 (0.5) | 24 (0.7) | 0.413 |
| Multiple sclerosis | 2 (0.1) | 24 (0.7) | <0.001 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 216 (7.0) | 164 (4.4) | <0.001 |
| Type 1 diabetes | 27 (0.9) | 16 (0.4) | |
| Type 2 diabetes | 189 (6.1) | 148 (4.0) | |
| Cancer | |||
| Solid | 21 (0.7) | 18 (0.5) | 0.263 |
| Haematology | 16 (0.5) | 14 (0.4) | 0.355 |
Data are presented as n (%), unless otherwise stated. BMI: body mass index. #: International Diabetes Association cut-off points for obesity are indicated with a waist circumference of ≥94 cm for males and ≥80 cm for females; ¶: compares “never-” versus “current or former” smokers; +: excessive alcohol consumption is defined as self-reported daily consumption of ≥30 g for males and ≥20 g for females. Pearson's Chi-squared test was used.