Table 1.

Characteristics of 438 incident dementia cases in the Medical Research Council’s cognitive function and ageing study. Figures are numbers (percentages) unless stated otherwise

Variables*	Women (n=311)	Men (n=127)	Total
Median (IQR) age at onset	84 (80-88)	83 (77-87)	84 (79-88)
Median (IQR) age at death	90 (85-93) (n=252)	87 (83-91) (n=104)	89 (84-92) (n=356)
Education in years:
≤9	217 (71)	91 (73)	308 (71)
10-11	56 (18)	25 (20)	81 (19)
≥12	34 (11)	8 (7)	42 (10)
Social class:
I/II	83 (27)	32 (25)	115 (26)
III	129 (41)	62 (49)	191 (44)
IV/V	82 (26)	31 (24)	113 (26)
Armed force/unclassified	17 (6)	2 (2)	19 (4)
Accommodation type:
Community†	188 (61)	90 (71)	278 (64)
Residential and nursing home	122 (39)	37 (29)	159 (36)
Marital status:
Married/cohabiting	30 (10)	12 (10)	42 (10)
Single	61 (20)	71 (58)	132 (31)
Widowed	213 (70)	39 (32)	252 (59)
Townsend deprivation index:
Top third	108 (36)	42 (33)	150 (36)
Middle third	105 (35)	40 (32)	145 (34)
Bottom third	84 (29)	44 (35)	128 (30)
Self reported health:
Excellent	44 (14)	15 (12)	59 (13)
Good	141 (45)	52 (41)	193 (44)
Fair	85 (27)	39 (31)	124 (28)
Poor	26 (12)	15 (12)	41 (9)
Missing	15 (5)	6 (5)	21 (5)
Blessed dementia scale:
Least impaired third	74 (24)	36 (28)	110 (25)
Middle impaired third	73 (23)	29 (23)	102 (23)
Most impaired third	82 (26)	23 (18)	105 (24)
Missing	82 (26)	39 (31)	121 (28)
Mini-mental state examination:
26-30	3 (1)	4 (3)	7 (2)
22-25	27 (9)	18 (14)	45 (10)
18-21	63 (20)	33 (26)	96 (22)
0-17	167 (54)	52 (41)	219 (50)
Missing	51 (16)	20 (16)	71 (16)

IQR=interquartile range.

*Missing data for 7, 1, 12, and 15 in education, accommodation type, marital status, and Townsend deprivation index, respectively.

†Community accommodation (own home, granny flat, or warden controlled accommodation).