Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics by Study (N = 494)
| Characteristic | WHAS I (age 70–79), N = 176 | WHAS II (age 70–79), N = 318 | p value |
| Age (y), mean (SD) | 74.2 (2.7) | 73.8 (2.7) | .11 |
| White race (%) | 68.8 | 82.7 | <.01 |
| Education (grade), mean (SD) | 10.1 (7.0) | 12.8 (3.2) | <.01 |
| Smoking status (%) | |||
| Nonsmoker | 42.6 | 53.5 | .06 |
| Former smoker | 42.6 | 35.9 | |
| Current smoker | 14.8 | 10.7 | |
| BMI (kg/m2), mean (SD) | 29.2 (7.8) | 26.6 (5.1) | <.01 |
| Number of diseases, mean (SD) | 1.9 (1.4) | 0.9 (0.9) | <.01 |
| Self-reported health (%) | |||
| Excellent | 2.8 | 15.6 | <.01 |
| Very good/good | 45.4 | 74.3 | |
| Fair/poor | 51.8 | 10.2 | |
| Corticosteroid use (%) | 5.1 | 0.9 | .01 |
| Estrogen use (%) | 9.1 | 13.5 | .19 |
| Frailty (%) | |||
| Frail | 26.1 | 2.5 | <.01 |
| Prefrail | 61.9 | 33.3 | |
| Nonfrail | 11.9 | 64.2 |
Note: SD = standard deviation; WHAS = Women's Health and Aging Study; BMI = body mass index.