Table 1.

Characteristics of women diagnosed with colon cancer according to body mass index and waist to hip ratio tertiles

Variable	BMI (kg/m²)					WHR tertiles
Variable	<18.5 (n = 14)	18.5-24.9 (n = 370)	25-29.9 (n = 417)	≥30 (n = 295)	P	<0.81 (n = 376)	0.81-0.88 (n = 356)	>0.88 (n = 358)	P
Mean age at colon cancer diagnosis (y)	71.5	73.6	72.9	73.0	0.41	73.0	73.4	73.0	0.72
Education beyond high school^* (%)	57.1	39.4	37.9	27.2	0.002	39.5	39.3	28.4	0.002
Regular physical activity^* (%)	37.5	45.4	41.2	31.0	0.0006	50.5	37.1	34.2	<0.0001
Multivitamin use^* (%)	25.0	37.4	26.9	24.6	0.001	33.1	29.1	23.5	0.02
Alcohol drinker, yes^* (%)	42.9	48.4	43.7	30.2	<0.0001	50.8	39.3	34.6	<0.0001
Smoking ever^* (%)	64.3	40.1	31.5	28.2	0.0006	35.9	32.9	33.1	0.36
Hormone replacement therapy, ever^† (%)	35.7	44.2	39.1	33.9	0.06	41.5	42.5	33.5	0.03
History of diabetes^† (%)	7.1	7.0	10.8	26.8	<0.0001	7.2	11.5	22.9	<0.0001
History of hypertension^† (%)	28.6	35.1	48.4	63.4	<0.0001	34.8	48.9	59.8	<0.0001
History of heart disease^† (%)	21.4	17.8	17.5	24.1	0.13	14.3	22.2	21.2	0.01
Stage at diagnosis
In situ	0	3.9	3.2	5.2	0.19^‡	3.8	2.3	5.4	0.15
Local	28.6	41.3	36.3	32.4		40.0	38.5	32.3
Regional	35.7	41.6	43.9	43.6		41.6	43.7	44.0
Distant	35.7	13.2	16.7	18.8		14.8	15.5	18.3
Surgery, yes^§ (%)	100	95.1	94.7	92.2	0.36^‡	96.8	93.5	92.5	0.03
Chemotherapy, yes^§ (%)	0	17.3	18.9	21.0	0.18^‡	14.9	19.7	21.8	0.05
Radiation, yes^§ (%)	0	1.4	2.9	1.6	0.50^‡	2.1	2.8	1.1	0.27

↵*Variables at baseline (in 1986).
↵^†Variables up to colon cancer diagnosis.
↵^‡Monte-Carlo estimate for the Fisher's exact test was used to calculate P values.
↵^§Initial course of therapy.