Table 3.

Participants’ characteristics by depression status. Mild depression was defined as GDS score of 11–20 and severe depression was defined as GDS score greater than 21

Baseline variables	Mild depressiona (11 ≤ GDS ≤ 20)			Severe depression (GDS ≥ 21)
	Yes (n =460)	No (n =1202)	p-value	Yes (n =75)	No (n =1662)	p-value
Mean age (SD)	75.6(5.6)	73.8(5.0)	<0.0001	74.4(5.4)	74.3(5.2)	0.9135
Female, %	58.9	50.3	0.0017	61.3	52.7	0.1431
Ever attended school, %	27.4	43.9	<.0001	29.3	39.4	0.0818
Marital status, %			0.0021*			0.0273*
Married	52.2	61.4		50.7	58.8
Widowed	46.7	37.9		45.3	30.3
Other	1.1	0.8		4.0	0.8
Living arrangement, %			<0.0001			0.0144
With spouse	39.6	51.7		41.3	48.3
With children	39.4	32.2		28.0	34.2
Living alone	21.1	16.1		30.7	17.5
Mean BMI (SD)	21.9(3.6)	22.5(3.8)	0.0008	21.6(3.6)	22.4(3.8)	0.0896
Ever drink alcohol, %	37.6	41.7	0.1304	30.7	40.5	0.0927
Ever smoked, %	34.6	42.9	0.0019	34.7	40.6	0.3370
History of, %
Cancer	1.5	1.9	0.6845	4.0	1.8	0.1679
Parkinson’s	1.5	2.2	0.5553	4.0	2.0	0.2010
Diabetes	3.5	4.4	0.4919	8.0	4.2	0.1345
Hypertensionb	60.2	58.9	0.6253	58.7	59.3	0.9177
Stroke	2.2	2.4	0.8580	8.0	2.4	0.0113
Heart attack	3.9	2.2	0.0591	10.7	2.7	0.0013
Head injury	6.7	2.3	<0.0001	9.3	3.6	0.0212
Fracture	3.5	1.1	0.0010	2.7	1.7	0.3746
APOE e4 carriers, %	16.7	16.7	0.9934	17.3	16.7	0.8906
Mean composite cognitive score	−0.3(0.7)	0.1(0.7)	<0.0001	−0.4(0.7)	0.0(0.8)	<0.0001

^*Comparing those married to widowed, excluding those in the ‘other’ group.

^aThose with severe depression (n =75) were excluded from the analysis on mild depression.

^bBlood pressure measure ≥140/90 or self-reported history of hypertension.