Table 1.
Characteristics of participants in the top and bottom quartiles of plasma carotenoids and tocopherols (1989 – 1990)
Characteristics at blood draw (1989 – 1990)* | Total Population | By Quartile of Total Plasma Carotenoids | By Quartile of Total Plasma Tocopherols | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 4th | 1st | 4th | ||
Number of participants | 858 | 213 | 216 | 212 | 217 |
Mean age (years) | 65 | 64 | 65 | 64 | 65 |
Mean level of retinol† | 621 | 592 | 649 | 546 | 698 |
Mean level of carotenoids† | 1122 | 617 | 1754 | 926 | 1285 |
Mean level of tocopherol† | 15779 | 14128 | 17591 | 10704 | 22581 |
Masters/Doctorate degree (%) | 8 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 7 |
Hypertension (%) | 34 | 42 | 32 | 26 | 43 |
Hypercholesterolemia (%) | 33 | 26 | 39 | 14 | 54 |
Current postmenopausal hormone use (%) | 31 | 32 | 33 | 27 | 37 |
Vitamin E use (%) | 24 | 21 | 34 | 11 | 45 |
Multivitamin use (%) | 42 | 40 | 50 | 23 | 64 |
Aspirin 2+/week (%) | 23 | 22 | 24 | 17 | 28 |
Antidepressant use (%) | 5 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 5 |
Current smoking (%) | 14 | 23 | 6 | 20 | 11 |
Mean alcohol use (mean g/day) | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
(mean METs/week) | 19 | 17 | 20 | 16 | 19 |
Obesity (BMI ≥ 30kg/m2; %) | 12 | 23 | 4 | 13 | 11 |
Cognitive Performance at first assessment (1995 – 2001) | |||||
TICS (n=858) ‡ | 33.9 | 33.9 | 33.8 | 33.8 | 34.0 |
Verbal score (n=693) ‡ | −0.02 | −0.03 | −0.10 | −0.01 | 0.05 |
Global score (n=693) ‡ | −0.01 | −0.07 | −0.07 | 0.02 | 0.01 |
Based on n=858
Unit: µg/L, mean weighted by batch
TICS = Telephone Interview of Cognitive Status; Verbal memory score is an average of the z-scores of four tests among those with complete data on all tests (10 word list Immediate recall, East Boston Immediate recall, East Boston Delayed recall, 10 words list Delayed recall); Global score is an average of the z-scores of six tests among those with complete data on all tests (TICS, East Boston Immediate recall, East Boston Delayed recall, 10 words list Delayed recall, verbal / category function, digit backwards)