Table 1.

Characteristics of Health and Retirement Survey Participants, for All Eligible Sample Members and Participants Who Reported an Incident Stroke

	Eligible Sample		Sample Members With Events
	n/mean	%/(std)	n/mean	%/(std)
n	19 445	100	1542	100
Mean years of follow-up (std)	8.5	(3.3)	5.6	(3.1)
Mean years of education (std)	11.9	(3.3)	11.2	(3.4)
Education credentials
No degree	5554	29	600	39
High school/GED	10 016	52	722	47
Associates	603	3	38	2
Bachelors	1886	10	105	7
Masters/professional	1386	7	77	5
Median wealth (interquartile range)*	67 175	(137 717)	49 300	(108 857)
Median income (interquartile range)*	19 224	(24 285)	14 004	(17 096)
Age at enrollment
50–64	11 640	60	613	40
65–74	4952	25	465	30
75+	2853	15	464	30
Male	8540	44	666	43
Black	2813	14	270	18
Hispanic ethnicity	1444	7	107	7
Birth regions
Northeast	3478	18	267	17
West	1972	10	171	11
Midwest	4997	26	361	23
South	6851	35	651	42
Not US	891	5	39	3
Unknown	1256	6	53	3
Mother’s education
<8 years	8047	41	888	58
8+ years	9384	48	444	29
Unknown	2014	10	210	14
Father’s education
<8 years	8499	44	928	60
8+ years	8257	42	370	24
Unkown	2689	14	244	16
Father’s occupation†
Unskilled laborer (3)	3633	19	290	19
Skilled labor (2)	3391	17	265	17
White collar (1)	1641	8	112	7
Managerial/professional (0)	2012	10	134	9
Farming	4073	21	361	23
Unknown	4564	23	375	24
Mean childhood health†† (std)	1.8	(1.0)	2.0	(1.1)
Hypertension	8236	42	899	58
Diabetes	2210	11	322	21
Heart disease	3465	18	465	30
Current smoker	4022	21	340	22
Vigorous activity	5091	26	329	21
Mean body mass index (std)	26.8	(5.0)	27.0	(5.4)

Sample members were all stroke-free at baseline.

^*Income and wealth values are standardized by dividing by the square root of household size.

^†Father’s occupation=army is not shown separately because of small cell counts.

^††Childhood health ranges from 1 (excellent) to 5 (poor).