Baseline characteristics of study participants by glucosamine use
| Characteristics | Overall (N=495 077) | Glucosamine non-users (n=400 731) | Glucosamine users (n=94 346) | SMD |
| Age, mean (SD), years | 56.55 (8.09) | 55.95 (8.20) | 59.08 (7.07) | 0.409 |
| Women | 269 549 (54.4) | 210 497 (52.5) | 59 052 (62.6) | 0.205 |
| TDI, mean (SD) | −1.31 (3.09) | −1.20 (3.14) | −1.79 (2.79) | 0.201 |
| Education | 0.017 | |||
| Degree | 160 288 (32.4) | 129 146 (32.2) | 31 142 (33.0) | |
| No degree | 334 789 (67.6) | 271 585 (67.8) | 63 204 (67.0) | |
| Ethnicity | 0.085 | |||
| White | 455 861 (92.1) | 367 313 (91.7) | 88 548 (93.9) | |
| Others | 39 216 (7.9) | 33 418 (8.3) | 5798 (6.1) | |
| Household income (£) | ||||
| <18 000 | 116 815 (23.6) | 95 680 (23.9) | 21 135 (22.4) | 0.094 |
| 18 000–30 999 | 127 517 (25.8) | 100 419 (25.1) | 27 098 (28.7) | |
| 31 000–51 999 | 127 427 (25.7) | 102 879 (25.7) | 24 548 (26.0) | |
| 52 000–100 000 | 97 565 (19.7) | 80 314 (20.0) | 17 251 (18.3) | |
| >100 000 | 25 753 (5.2) | 21 439 (5.3) | 4314 (4.6) | |
| BMI, mean (SD), kg/m2 | 27.43 (4.80) | 27.45 (4.84) | 27.36 (4.65) | 0.02 |
| Smoking status | 0.184 | |||
| Never | 271 144 (54.8) | 219 107 (54.7) | 52 037 (55.2) | |
| Former | 171 668 (34.7) | 135 486 (33.8) | 36 182 (38.4) | |
| Current | 52 265 (10.6) | 46 138 (11.5) | 6127 (6.5) | |
| Alcohol consumption | 0.081 | |||
| Never | 21 931 (4.4) | 18 688 (4.7) | 3243 (3.4) | |
| Former | 17 858 (3.6) | 15 136 (3.8) | 2722 (2.9) | |
| Current | 455 288 (92.0) | 366 907 (91.6) | 88 381 (93.7) | |
| Physical activity (min/week) | 0.137 | |||
| <150 | 228 019 (46.1) | 189 753 (47.4) | 38 266 (40.6) | |
| ≥150 | 267 058 (53.9) | 210 978 (52.6) | 56 080 (59.4) | |
| Vegetable consumption (servings/day) | 0.167 | |||
| <2.0 | 97 853 (19.8) | 83 776 (20.9) | 14 077 (14.9) | |
| 2.0–3.9 | 222 743 (45.0) | 179 783 (44.9) | 42 960 (45.5) | |
| ≥4.0 | 174 481 (35.2) | 137 172 (34.2) | 37 309 (39.5) | |
| Fruit consumption (servings/day) | 0.286 | |||
| <2.0 | 136 458 (27.6) | 118 612 (29.6) | 17 846 (18.9) | |
| 2.0–3.9 | 201 446 (40.7) | 163 136 (40.7) | 38 310 (40.6) | |
| ≥4.0 | 157 173 (31.7) | 118 983 (29.7) | 38 190 (40.5) | |
| Supplement or drug use | ||||
| Vitamin | 157 133 (31.7) | 104 719 (26.1) | 52 414 (55.6) | 0.627 |
| Minerals and other dietary supplements | 184 377 (37.2) | 118 971 (29.7) | 65 406 (69.3) | 0.864 |
| Aspirin | 66 052 (13.3) | 53 402 (13.3) | 12 650 (13.4) | 0.002 |
| Statin | 56 544 (11.4) | 46 186 (11.5) | 10 358 (11.0) | 0.017 |
| Non-aspirin NSAIDs | 71 109 (14.4) | 53 152 (13.3) | 17 957 (19.0) | 0.157 |
| Chondroitin | 7813 (1.6) | 1581 (0.4) | 6232 (6.6) | 0.343 |
| Health conditions | ||||
| Cardiovascular disease | 28 709 (5.8) | 24 621 (6.1) | 4088 (4.3) | 0.081 |
| Cancer | 39 659 (8.0) | 31 506 (7.9) | 8153 (8.6) | 0.028 |
| Diabetes | 25 968 (5.2) | 22 517 (5.6) | 3451 (3.7) | 0.093 |
| Hypertension | 279 956 (56.5) | 225 247 (56.2) | 54 709 (58.0) | 0.036 |
| Respiratory diseases | 1957 (0.4) | 1555 (0.4) | 402 (0.4) | 0.006 |
| Digestive diseases | 1417 (0.3) | 1259 (0.3) | 158 (0.2) | 0.030 |
| High cholesterol | 86 406 (17.5) | 70 408 (17.6) | 15 998 (17.0) | 0.016 |
| Arthritis | 23 217 (4.7) | 15 440 (3.9) | 7777 (8.2) | 0.185 |
| Dementia | 219 (0.0) | 184 (0.0) | 35 (0.0) | 0.004 |
| Depression | 76 642 (15.5) | 53 848 (13.4) | 15 133 (16.0) | 0.073 |
| Long-standing illness | 162 123 (32.7) | 131 024 (32.7) | 31 099 (33.0) | 0.006 |
Values are numbers (%) unless stated otherwise.
BMI, body mass index; NSAID, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug; SMD, standardised mean difference; TDI, Townsend Deprivation Index.