Table 1 Baseline characteristics of participants by current use of incense in the Singapore Chinese Health Study (1993–1998) (n = 63,147)
Characteristic | Current users (n = 48,545) | Non-users (never and former users) (n = 14,602) | P-valuea |
|---|---|---|---|
Age at baseline (years) | 56.5 ± 8.0 | 56.4 ± 8.2 | 0.02 |
BMI (kg/m2) | 23.2 ± 3.3 | 22.9 ± 3.2 | < 0.001 |
Gender | Â | Â | 0.002 |
 Men | 21,607 (44.5) | 6289 (43.1) |  |
 Women | 26,938 (55.5) | 8313 (56.9) |  |
Dialect |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Cantonese | 21,455 (44.2) | 7777 (53.3) |  |
 Hokkien | 27,090 (55.8) | 6825 (46.7) |  |
Education |  |  | < 0.001 |
 No formal education | 14,977 (30.9) | 2325 (15.9) |  |
 Primary school (1–6 years) | 22,948 (47.3) | 5047 (34.6) |  |
 ≥ Secondary school | 10,620 (21.9) | 7230 (49.5) |  |
Cigarette smoking |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Never | 32,921 (67.8) | 10,925 (74.8) |  |
 Former | 5333 (11.0) | 1643 (11.3) |  |
 Current | 10,291 (21.2) | 2034 (13.9) |  |
Alcohol consumption | Â | Â | 0.01 |
 None/monthly | 42,851 (88.3) | 12,986 (88.9) |  |
 Weekly | 3939 (8.1) | 1166 (8.0) |  |
 Daily | 1755 (3.6) | 450 (3.1) |  |
Physical activityb | 15,286 (31.5) | 5478 (37.5) | < 0.001 |
Coffee consumption |  |  | < 0.001 |
 None to < 1 cup/day | 13,771 (28.4) | 5007 (34.3) |  |
 1 cup/day | 17,495 (36.0) | 5262 (36.0) |  |
 ≥ 2 cups/day | 17,279 (35.6) | 4333 (29.7) |  |
Ginseng intake (at least weekly) | 1226 (2.5) | 432 (3.0) | 0.004 |
Medicinal soup intake (at least weekly) | 4656 (9.6) | 1690 (11.6) | < 0.001 |
Total protein intake (g/day) | 59.0 ± 9.9 | 59.7 ± 10.2 | < 0.001 |
Red meat intake (g/day) | 30.8 ± 18.8 | 29.6 ± 18.4 | < 0.001 |
History of disease | |||
 Diabetes mellitus | 4468 (9.2) | 1203 (8.2) | < 0.001 |
 Hypertension | 11,426 (23.5) | 3546 (24.3) | 0.1 |
 Coronary heart disease | 1937 (4.0) | 650 (4.5) | 0.01 |
 Stroke | 706 (1.5) | 240 (1.6) | 0.1 |