Table 2.

Selected Demographic and Health Characteristics^a of Participants by Racial/Ethnic Group and Summary Early-Life Socioeconomic Position^b, ARIC LC-SES Study, 1987–2004

Characteristic	Early-Life SEP
	Blacks (n = 2,503)				Whites (n = 8,519)
	Low (n = 833)	Medium (n = 893)	High (n = 777)	P Valuec	Low (n = 3,405)	Medium (n = 2,551)	High (n = 2,563)	P Valuec
Demographic factors
Male gender, %	32.2	37.7	38.5	0.01	44.5	45.6	47.8	0.03
Mean age, years (standard deviation)	53.0 (5.7)	53.1 (5.7)	52.1 (5.6)	<0.001	54.9 (5.5)	53.9 (5.6)	52.6 (5.6)	<0.001
Heart failure risk factors
Body mass indexd, %
≥25–<30	36.0	38.8	42.9	<0.001	40.7	41.1	39.5	0.01
≥30	41.8	42.2	34.5		22.4	20.5	19.5
Type 2 diabetes mellitus, %	14.9	14.6	14.4	0.96	7.8	7.7	5.2	<0.001
Hypertension, %	50.7	51.7	49.0	0.54	25.6	24.4	20.1	<0.001
Prevalent coronary heart disease, %	2.9	2.7	1.0	0.02	3.8	3.4	2.6	0.03
Left ventricular hypertrophye, %	5.9	4.9	5.2	0.66	1.1	0.8	0.6	0.12
Current smoker, %	24.5	25.2	26.8	0.56	22.0	22.3	18.2	<0.001
Current alcohol drinker, %	28.5	29.9	37.7	<0.001	58.6	65.7	77.1	<0.001
No health insurance, %	22.6	24.3	14.5	<0.001	5.4	4.1	2.5	<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).

^bSummary early-life SEP was generated by summing information on parental educational level, class, and home ownership status when the participant was 10 years of age and dividing the total at the 25th and 75th percentiles. “Low,” “medium,” and “high” represent the most disadvantaged to the least disadvantaged, respectively. See Table 3 for the specific SEP score for each group. Data on individual-level SEP indicators were self-reported during the LC-SES Study (2001).

^cP values were generated by chi-squared test for categorical variables and the Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous exposures.

^dWeight (kg)/height (m)².

^eLeft ventricular hypertrophy was determined by electrocardiography using the Cornell criteria (31).