Table 1.

Patients' characteristics

Variable	No.
Total, no. (%)	71 (100)
Median age at MM diagnosis, y (range)	70 (58-81)
Male sex, no. (%)	50 (71.4)
Race/ethnicity, no. (%)
White	65 (92.9)
African American	3 (4.3)
Pacific Islanders	1 (1.4)
Hispanic	1 (1.4)
Calendar year at MM diagnosis, median (range)	2002 (1997-2005)
Latency between blood draw and subsequent MM dx (mo), median (range)*
First prediagnostic blood draw	59 (29-118)
Last prediagnostic blood draw	32 (24-84)
Median number (range) of available prediagnostic serum samples per persons†	3 (1-6)

dx indicates diagnosis.

^*Latency interval (mo) between the first and the last prediagnostic blood draw in relation to a subsequent MM diagnosis.

^†Blood samples were prospectively collected on an annual basis; blood was drawn up to 6 sequential years for each individual.