Table 1 Characteristics of study participants in the data analysis set

N

3793

5077

8064

9527

10,147

9130

Sex

Male

1831 (48.3%)

2406 (47.4%)

3704 (46.4%)

4625 (48.6%)

4831 (47.6%)

4310 (47.2%)

female

1962 (51.7%)

2671 (52.6%)

4324 (53.6%)

4902 (51.4%)

5316 (52.4%)

4820 (52.8%)

Age (years)

64.7 ± 9.3

67.0 ± 9.3

68.4 ± 9.3

70.0 ± 9.5

71.2 ± 9.3

72.6 ± 9.0

ISCED

Grade 3–6

1431 (38.1%)

2099 (42.1%)

3761 (47.7%)

4681 (50.2%)

4867 (49.0%)

4553 (50.2%)

Grade 0–2

2329 (61.9%)

2883 (57.9%)

4126 (52.3%)

4651 (49.8%)

5075 (51.0%)

4515 (49.8%)

Partner-ship

Not alone

2748 (72.5%)

3590 (71.5%)

5345 (67.2%)

6290 (66.9%)

6622 (66.0%)

5874 (64.5%)

alone

1040 (27.5%)

1429 (28.5%)

2604 (32.8%)

3106 (33.1%)

3404 (34.0%)

3239 (35.5%)

Region in Europe

Northern

476 (12.6%)

582 (11.5%)

484 (6.0%)

840 (8.8%)

787 (7.8%)

646 (7.1%)

Eastern

0

615 (12.1%)

2956 (36.7%)

2586 (27.1%)

2856 (28.2%)

2753 (30.2%)

Southern

1788 (47.1%)

2190 (43.1%)

1760 (21.8%)

2706 (28.4%)

3633 (35.8%)

3250 (35.6%)

Western

1529 (40.3%)

1690 (33.3%)

2864 (35.5%)

3395 (35.6%)

2871 (28.3%)

2481 (27.2%)

BMI (kg/m²)

28.7 ± 4.9

28.9 ± 5.0

29.5 ± 5.3

29.2 ± 5.3

29.2 ± 5.2

29.0 ± 5.2

Age at diabetes onset

 < 30 years

81 (2.1%)

114 (2.3%)

232 (2.9%)

320 (3.4%)

358 (3.5%)

305 (3.3%)

 ≥ 30 years

2172 (57.3%)

2872 (56.6%)

5026 (62.3%)

5998 (63.0%)

6458 (63.6%)

5809 (63.6%)

Not reported

1540 (40.6%)

2091 (41.2%)

2806 (34.8%)

3209 (33.7%)

3331 (32.8%)

3016 (33.0%)

Times of visits to the doctor per year

10.0 ± 13.0

10.1 ± 12.1

9.5 ± 11.1

9.9 ± 11.7

9.7 ± 12.3

10.3 ± 23.1

Report of earlier diabetes

Yes

2253 (59.6%)

3203 (63.3%)

5947 (73.9%)

7349 (77.3%)

8352 (82.4%)

6629 (72.9%)

No

1529 (40.4%)

1861 (36.7%)

2104 (26.1%)

2158 (22.7%)

1788 (17.6%)

2462 (27.1%)

Intake of diabetes medication

Yes

1853 (49.0%)

2739 (54.0%)

5162 (64.1%)

6588 (69.3%)

7514 (74.1%)

6435 (70.6%)

No

1929 (51.0%)

2330 (46.0%)

2883 (35.8%)

2907 (30.6%)

2607 (25.7%)

2634 (28.9%)

Subjective health

Excellent

99 (2.6%)

176 (3.5%)

143 (1.8%)

174 (1.8%)

195 (1.9%)

150 (1.7%)

Very good

400 (10.6%)

463 (9.1%)

575 (7.1%)

726 (7.6%)

704 (6.9%)

623 (6.8%)

Good

1275 (33.7%)

1696 (33.5%)

2303 (28.6%)

2987 (31.4%)

2948 (29.1%)

2675 (29.3%)

Fair

1401 (37.0%)

1814 (35.8%)

3168 (39.3%)

3616 (38.0%)

4045 (39.9%)

3574 (39.2%)

Poor

609 (16.1%)

918 (18.1%)

1864 (23.1%)

2006 (21.1%)

2251 (22.2%)

2071 (22.7%)

Report of earlier heart disease

Yes

699 (18.5%)

986 (19.5%)

1786 (22.2%)

1892 (19.9%)

1989 (19.6%)

1854 (20.4%)

No

3083 (81.5%)

4078 (80.5%)

6265 (77.8%)

7615 (80.1%)

8151 (80.4%)

7237 (79.6%)

Report of earlier stroke

Yes

184 (4.9%)

278 (5.5%)

578 (7.2%)

710 (7.5%)

715 (7.1%)

705 (7.7%)

No

3598 (95.1%)

4786 (94.5%)

7473 (92.7%)

8797 (92.5%)

9425 (92.9%)

8386 (92.0%)