Table 1

Prevalence of the conventional cardiovascular risk factors in coronary patients and controls with the metabolic syndrome, stratified by the main factor of interest, i.e. adoption of the Mediterranean diet and physically active lifestyle or not

Mediterranean diet

No Mediterranean diet

P-value

Patients

Controls

Patients

Controls

Current smoking

42 (53%)

29 (41%)

156 (69%)

51 (40%)

0.085

Physical inactivity

49 (61%)

33 (47%)

136 (60%)

64 (50%)

0.124

Hypertension

50 (63%)

23 (33%)

133 (59%)

51 (41%)

< 0.001

Hypercholesterolemia

47 (59%)

12 (17%)

145 (64%)

26 (20%)

< 0.001

Obesity

33 (41%)

15 (24%)

63 (28%)

31 (28%)

0.324

Diabetes mellitus

30 (38%)

10 (15%)

79 (35%)

23 (18%)

0.001

Last column represents the pooled probability value (p-value) that is derived from the cross – tabulated comparisons between group of the study (patients – controls) and the classical cardiovascular risk factors, stratified by the main factor of interest (i.e. combination of Mediterranean diet and physical activity or not).

Pitsavos et al. Nutrition Journal 2003 2:1   doi:10.1186/1475-2891-2-1