Table 1.

Selected Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Health Characteristics of Participants at the ARIC Baseline Examination, by Racial/Ethnic Group, ARIC LC-SES Study, 1987–2004^a

Characteristic	Blacks (n = 2,503)	Whites (n = 8,519)	P Valueb
Median duration of follow-up, years (interquartile range)	16.0 (15.4–16.9)	16.2 (15.5–17.0)	<0.001
No. with incident heart failure	221	537	<0.001
Total duration of follow-up, person-years	39,554.3	136,510.0
Demographic factors
Mean age, years (standard deviation)	52.8 (5.7)	53.9 (5.6)	0.78
Male gender, %	36.1	45.8	<0.001
ARIC study center, %
Jackson, Mississippi	90.4	0.0	<0.001
Forsyth County, North Carolina	9.6	30.5
Minneapolis, Minnesota (suburbs)	0.0	36.0
Washington County, Maryland	0.0	33.5
Individual-level childhood SEP indicators
Parental education, %
≤8th grade	35.2	29.0	<00001
9th–11th grade	48.3	30.2
≥12th grade	16.5	40.8
Parental occupationc
Nonprofessional	57.1	34.2	<0.001
Managerial/professional	42.9	65.9
Home ownership
No	54.3	26.6	<0.001
Yes	45.7	73.4
Individual-level young adulthood SEP indicators
Education
Less than high school	35.5	14.4	<0.001
High school graduation and/or vocational school	28.7	46.1
Some college or greater	35.8	39.6
Occupationc
Nonprofessional	45.2	19.8	<0.001
Homemaker	10.7	29.6
Managerial/professional	44.1	50.6
Home ownership
No	52.0	27.2	<0.001
Yes	48.0	72.9
Individual-level mid-to-older adulthood SEP indicators
Quartile of annual household income
≤$25,000	69.4	22.2	<0.001
>$25,000–≤$50,000	23.0	45.7
>$50,000	7.6	32.0
Occupation
Nonprofessional	46.9	26.7	<0.001
Retired	10.1	13.7
Homemaker	8.2	9.1
Managerial/professional	34.9	50.5
Home ownership
No	16.5	6.7	<0.001
Yes	83.5	93.3
Heart failure risk factors
Body mass indexd
≥25–<30	39.1	40.5	<0.001
≥30	39.7	20.9
Type 2 diabetes, mellitus, %	14.6	7.0	<0.001
Hypertension, %	50.5	23.6	<0.001
Prevalent coronary heart disease, %	2.2	3.3	<0.01
Left ventricular hypertrophye, %	5.3	0.9	<0.001
Current smoker, %	25.5	21.0	<0.001
Current alcohol drinker, %	31.8	66.3	<0.001
No health insurance, %	20.7	4.1	<0.001

Abbreviations: ARIC, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities; LC-SES, Life Course Socioeconomic Status, Social Context, and Cardiovascular Disease; SEP, socioeconomic position.

^aAll demographic and heart failure risk factors were measured at the ARIC baseline examination (1987–1989). Data on the SEP indicators were self-reported at follow-up during the LC-SES Study (2001).

^bTwo-sided P values were generated by chi-squared test for categorical variables and t test for age and the Kruskal-Wallis test for follow-up.

^cOccupation was defined on the basis of the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (27). The nonprofessional class represents intermediate occupations, lower supervisory and technical occupations, and semiroutine to routine occupations.

^dWeight (kg)/height (m)².

^eLeft ventricular hypertrophy was determined by electrocardiography.