What are the potential pitfalls of using a separate table for user profile fields in PHP and how can they be avoided?

Potential pitfalls of using a separate table for user profile fields in PHP include increased complexity, slower query performance due to additional joins, and potential data inconsistencies if not properly managed. To avoid these pitfalls, consider denormalizing the user profile fields into a single table or using a NoSQL database for more flexibility.

// Example of denormalizing user profile fields into a single table
CREATE TABLE users (
    id INT PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(50),
    email VARCHAR(100),
    first_name VARCHAR(50),
    last_name VARCHAR(50),
    age INT,
    bio TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMP
);