TABLE 2.

Characteristics of study participants at baseline

	Group (age range in years) a
Characteristics	Early adulthood (35–50)	Middle adulthood (51–60)	Lateadulthood (61–70)
Period of baseline risk factor measurement	1971–1983	1979–1991	1987–1998
Total, No.	3224	1943	1577
Age, mean (SD), y	41.0 (4.3)	54.0 (2.5)	63.5 (2.3)
Female, No. (%)	1,683 (52.2)	995 (51.2)	812 (51.5)
Education, No. (%)
Missing/unknown	292 (9.0)	79 (4.1)	76 (18.9)
High school did not graduate	477 (14.8)	405 (20.8)	298 (29.7)
High school graduate	834 (25.9)	545 (28.0)	469 (24.1)
Some college	818 (25.4)	491 (25.3)	380 (22.4)
College graduate	803 (24.9)	423 (21.8)	354 (4.8)
Follow‐up time, mean (SD), y	35.2 (8.9)	25.8 (8.2)	18.5 (6.8)
AD incident, No. (%)	177 (5.5)	172 (8.8)	192 (12.2)
Male	64 (4.2)	60 (6.3)	68 (8.9)
Female	113 (6.7)	112 (11.3)	124 (15.3)
APOE genotype (N)	2,761	1,799	1,518
Cerebrovascular risk factors
LDL cholesterol, mean (SD), mg/dL	133.3 (36.0)	146.0 (36.5)	134.0 (33.8)
HDL cholesterol, mean (SD), mg/dL	51.1 (16.0)	49.5 (15.3)	49.4 (15.7)
Triglycerides, mean (SD), mg/dL	109.0 (82.5)	133.2 (107.1)	153.0 (109.5)
Total cholesterol, mean (SD), mg/dL	205.6 (37.7)	225.3 (37.8)	213.2 (38.8)
Blood glucose, mean (SD), mg/dL	101.3 (15.4)	100.8 (26.5)	105.3 (33.7)
Systolic blood pressure, mean (SD), mm Hg	123.9 (16.0)	129.1 (17.2)	134.9 (19.2)
Diastolic blood pressure, mean (SD), mm Hg	79.5 (10.5)	81.1 (9.3)	77.5 (9.7)
Treatment
Treated for diabetes, No. (%)	25 (0.8)	52 (2.7)	98 (6.2)
Treated for hypertension, No. (%)	153 (4.7)	401 (20.6)	538 (34.1)
Treated for dyslipidemia, No. (%)	17 (0.5)	42 (2.2)	171 (10.8)

^a Participants are included in each age group for which they were examined during the corresponding baseline period as defined in Table S1.