Table 3.
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics by Mediterranean Diet Score Tertiles
| Characteristics | Low Tertile (MeDi score 0–3) | Middle Tertile (MeDi score 4–5) | High Tertile (MeDi score 6–9) | p |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WHICAP 1999 cohort, N (%) | 395 (55) | 508 (55) | 312 (54) | 0.99 |
| Mean age, yr (SD) | 77.3 (6.8) | 77.0 (6.6) | 77.3 (6.3) | 0.50 |
| Male sex, n (%) | 218 (30) | 303 (33) | 199 (35) | 0.23 |
| Mean education, yr (SD) | 10.2 (4.5) | 9.9 (4.8) | 10.1 (4.9) | 0.45 |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | <0.001 | |||
| White | 204 (28) | 251 (27) | 165 (29) | |
| Black | 280 (39) | 292 (31) | 150 (26) | |
| Hispanic | 225 (31) | 374 (40) | 249 (43) | |
| Other | 13 (2) | 13 (1) | 10 (2) | |
| Presence of ε4 allele, n (%) | 164 (27) | 214 (27) | 148 (29) | 0.68 |
| Smoking, n (%) | 111 (15) | 119 (13) | 45 (8) | <0.001 |
| Mean comorbidity index (SD) | 1.9 (1.4) | 1.9 (1.4) | 2.0 (1.5) | 0.95 |
| Mean energy, kcal (SD) | 1,498 (605) | 1,399 (467) | 1,387 (473) | <0.001 |
| Body mass index (SD) | 27.5 (5.8) | 27.5 (5.5) | 27.2 (5.3) | 0.55 |
WHICAP = Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project; MeDi = Mediterranean diet; SD = standard deviation.