Table 1.
Participant Characteristics at Baseline, 1997–1999
| All Participants (N=4,120) | Quartiles of Distress | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (N=1032) | Q2 (N=1028) | Q3 (N=1031) | Q4 (N=1029) | P-value | ||
|
| ||||||
| Age, mean (SD), years | 77.1 (6.3) | 75.7 (5.5) | 76.7 (6.1) | 77.5 (6.4) | 78.5 (6.9) | <0.0001 |
| Women, N (%) | 2545 (61.8) | 573 (55.5) | 614 (59.7) | 648 (62.9) | 710 (69.0) | <0.0001 |
| Black, N (%) | 2531 (61.4) | 587 (56.9) | 566 (55.1) | 642 (62.3) | 736 (71.5) | <0.0001 |
| Education, mean (SD), years | 12.0 (3.7) | 13.0 (3.6) | 12.6 (3.5) | 11.7 (3.6) | 10.9 (3.6) | <0.0001 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg, mean (SD) | 135.0 (18.8) | 136.3 (17.8) | 135.0 (18.1) | 134.9 (19.5) | 133.6 (19.6) | 0.019 |
| BMI, kg/m2, mean (SD) | 26.7 (5.7) | 27.1 (5.0) | 26.9 (5.5) | 26.7 (6.1) | 26.3 (6.2) | <0.0001 |
| BMI<18.5, N (%) | 179 (4.4) | 24 (2.4) | 33 (3.2) | 53 (5.2) | 69 (7.0) | <0.0001 |
| 18.5≤BMI<25 | 1518 (37.5) | 339 (33.0) | 378 (37.1) | 402 (39.5) | 399 (40.3) | |
| 25≤BMI<30 | 1381 (34.1) | 421 (41.2) | 362 (35.6) | 318 (31.2) | 280 (28.3) | |
| BMI≥30 | 971 (24.0) | 239 (23.4) | 245 (24.1) | 245 (24.1) | 242 (24.4) | |
| Smoking Status, N (%) | 0.043 | |||||
| Never smoker | 1902 (46.2) | 502 (48.7) | 475 (46.2) | 445 (43.2) | 480 (46.7) | |
| Ever smoker | 1719 (41.8) | 420 (40.7) | 439 (42.7) | 433 (42.0) | 427 (41.6) | |
| Current smoker | 495 (12.0) | 109 (10.6) | 114 (11.1) | 152 (14.8) | 120 (11.7) | |
| Physical activity sum, mean (SD) | 2.9 (4.8) | 4.1 (5.4) | 3.4 (5.3) | 2.5 (4.6) | 1.4 (1.1) | <0.0001 |
| Use of anti-hypertensives, N (%) | 2,564 (62.2) | 587 (56.9) | 636 (61.9) | 678 (65.8) | 663 (64.4) | 0.0002 |
| Use of lipid-lowering medication, N (%) | 443 (10.8) | 134 (13.0) | 122 (11.9) | 104 (10.1) | 83 (8.1) | 0.002 |
| Use of anti-depressants, N (%) | 152 (3.7) | 12 (1.2) | 31 (3.0) | 38 (3.7) | 71 (6.9) | <0.0001 |
| Chronic health conditions, mean (SD) | 1.2 (0.98) | 0.97 (0.86) | 1.2 (0.93) | 1.3 (0.98) | 1.4 (1.08) | <0.0001 |
| History of CVD, N (%) | 675 (16.4) | 122 (11.8) | 143 (13.9) | 184 (17.9) | 226 (22.0) | <0.0001 |
| History of diabetes, N (%) | 367 (8.9) | 60 (5.8) | 84 (8.2) | 100 (9.7) | 123 (11.9) | <0.0001 |
| History of cancer, N (%) | 941 (22.8) | 204 (19.8) | 252 (24.5) | 241 (23.4) | 244 (23.7) | 0.051 |
| History of hip fracture, N (%) | 178 (4.3) | 24 (2.3) | 44 (4.3) | 43 (4.2) | 67 (6.5) | <0.0001 |
| History of stroke, N (%) | 538 (13.1) | 83 (8.0) | 117 (11.4) | 128 (12.4) | 210 (20.4) | <0.0001 |
Note: The study sample size was 4,120, but due to missing data, the N for covariates ranged from 3,988 to 4,120. Q1–Q4 indicate quartiles of the distress measure based on four approximate divisions of the overall distress factor score. Number of chronic health conditions is the count of a participant’s history of cardiovascular diseases, hip fracture, diabetes, and cancer. Demographic statistics were similar for the sample populations included in the stroke mortality (N=4,120) and incident stroke (N=2,649) analyses. P-values are from Chi-square tests or analysis of variance, as appropriate.