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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2013 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Geriatr Soc. 2012 Feb 8;60(4):652–660. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2011.03882.x

Table 1.

Study Sample Characteristics: Individuals for whom Transitions Data, including Death, was Obtained at Follow-up 1

Baseline Characteristics Mexican Americans (n = 312) European Americans (n = 285) Total (n = 597)* P-value for Ethnic Difference
n(%) or mean(SD) n(%) or mean(SD) n(%) or mean(SD)
Age, years (range: 65–80) 69.1 (3.2) 70.2 (3.5) 69.6 (3.4) <0.001
Female 172 (55.1) 157 (55.1) 329 (55.1) 0.992
Hypertension 148 (47.4) 144 (50.5) 292 (48.9) 0.451
Stroke 34 (11.0) 18 (6.4) 52 (8.8) 0.046
Arthritis 134 (43.1) 135 (47.7) 269 (45.3) 0.259
Ischemic heart disease (self-report) 23 (7.4) 20 (7.0) 43 (7.3) 0.851
Ischemic heart disease (ECG-defined) 45 (14.5) 46 (16.1) 91 (15.3) 0.571
Congestive heart failure 0 (0.0) 1 (0.4) 1 (0.2) 0.295
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (n = 583) 93 (30.7) 104 (37.1) 197 (33.8) 0.100
Diabetes (n = 532) 99 (33.9) 25 (10.4) 124 (23.3) <0.001
Diabetes with complications (n = 449) 34 (15.0) 7 (3.2) 41 (9.1) <0.001
Cognitive impairment 9 (2.9) 1 (0.4) 10 (1.7) 0.016
Comorbidity§ (n = 571) 112 (36.8) 120 (44.9) 232 (40.6) 0.049
Comorbidity, score (range: 0–5) 1.3 (1.0) 1.4 (1.0) 1.3 (1.0) 0.122
Income,# category (range: 1–15) 10.7 (3.1) 12.9 (2.3) 11.8 (2.9) <0.001
Education, years (range: 0–23) 9.4 (4.5) 13.4 (2.6) 11.3 (4.2) <0.001
Frailty Characteristics
Weakness (n = 592) 78 (25.2) 39 (13.8) 117 (19.8) 0.001
Slowness (n = 596) 71 (22.8) 44 (15.5) 115 (19.3) 0.025
Exhaustion (n = 582) 71 (23.4) 100 (36.0) 171 (29.4) 0.001
Weight Loss (n = 568) 45 (15.5) 35 (12.6) 80 (13.4) 0.333
Low Physical Activity (n = 590) 70 (22.7) 43 (15.3) 113 (19.2) 0.021
Frailty, Ordinal Trichotomous (n = 559) 0.054
Non-frail 102 (35.3) 107 (52.6) 209 (37.4)
Pre-frail 152 (52.6) 146 (54.1) 298 (53.3)
Frail 35 (12.1) 17 (6.3) 52 (9.3)
*

Sample size of 597 includes individuals who were not missing information for all five frailty characteristics at baseline or follow-up, and whose transition could be classified in at least one frailty characteristic at baseline and follow-up. Sample size may be lower for individual baseline characteristics due to missing data; in this case, the sample size is listed next to the characteristic.

Abbreviations: SD = standard deviation

Diabetes with complications was defined as the presence of diabetes (defined by American Diabetes Association criteria) as well as the presence of stroke (defined by self-report of physician-diagnosed disease) or ischemic heart disease, either self-reported (assessed by Rose questionnaire) or ECG-defined.

§

Comorbidity defined as presence of two or more of seven chronic conditions, including angina, hypertension, myocardial infarction, stroke, arthritis, and cancer (non-skin). Comorbidity score is a sum of the number of these chronic diseases present.

Cognitive impairment was defined as Mini Mental State Examination score of less than 18.

#

Monthly household income categories: 1=$0–49, 2=$50–99, 3=$100–149, 4=$150–199, 5=$200–299, 6=$300–399, 7=$400–499, 8=$500–749, 9=$750–999, 10=$1000–1249, 11=$1250–1499, 12=$1500–1999, 13=$2000–2499, 14=$2500–2999, 15=$3000+. Dollar equivalents of annual household incomes are: 10=$13,500, 11=$16,500, 12=$21,000, 13=$27,000.