International Differences in the Links between Obesity and Physiological Dysregulation: The United States, England, and Taiwan

Table 1

Characteristics of persons aged 54+ in the US, England, and Taiwan.

	US	England	Taiwan
N	1513	7384	1020
Age yrs. (mean)	66.3	66.8	66.4
Men (%)	43.7	52.8	56.5
Currently smoking* (%)	24.5	13.9	22.5
Physical activity (%)	58.5	82.2	61.4
Taking antihypertensive meds (%)	47.1	32.0	28.6
At-risk levels of biomarkers (%)
Systolic blood pressure (≥140 mm Hg)	29.1	32.9	42.9
Diastolic blood pressure (≥90 mm Hg)	5.2	8.2	24.2
Total cholesterol (≥240 mg/dL)	17.6	27.3	14.6
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol; (<40 mg/dL)	16.2	9.4	27.4
Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol; (≥160 mg/dL)	11.9	18.6	17.1
Triglycerides (≥200 mg/dL)	23.6	14.7	10.6
Fasting glucose (≥126 mg/dL)	17.3	2.2	13.2
C-Reactive protein (≥3 mg/L)	39.9	35.0
Interleukin-6 (≥4.64 pg/mL)			6.4
Glycated hemoglobin (≥6.4%)	13.0	12.8	15.3
Summary risk (mean; range: 0–9)	3.0	2.4	1.7
Summary risk (mean; range: 0–8)	2.6	2.0	1.7

∗In Taiwan, this indicates having smoked in the past 6 months.