Table 1.
Baseline Characteristics and Test Scores of the ACTIVE Sample (N=1,401)
| Memory-trained group |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AVLT Skippers* (n=174) | AVLT Non-skippers (n=529) | Control group (n=698) | p-value for differences† | |
| AVLT skipping, n % | 174 (100) | 0 (0) | 33 (4.7) | < 0.001 |
| Age, mean (SD) | 71.8 (5.2) | 74.1 (6.2) | 74.0 (6.0) | < 0.001 |
| Years of Education, mean (SD) | 14.3 (2.7) | 13.4 (2.7) | 13.4 (2.7) | < 0.001 |
| MMSE score, mean (SD) | 27.8 (1.9) | 27.1 (2.1) | 27.3 (2.0) | < 0.001 |
| Health status, n % | 0.05 | |||
| Excellent | 16 (9.2) | 41 (7.9) | 64 (9.3) | |
| Very Good | 78 (45.1) | 169 (32.6) | 232 (33.7) | |
| Good | 65 (37.6) | 218 (42.0) | 287 (41.7) | |
| Fair | 13 (7.5) | 85 (16.4) | 100 (14.5) | |
| Poor | 1 (0.6) | 6 (1.2) | 6 (0.9) | |
| Sex, n % female | 128 (73.6) | 409 (77.3) | 514 (73.6) | 0.30 |
| Ethnicity, n % white | 139 (79.9) | 382 (72.2) | 500 (71.6) | 0.08 |
| Baseline memory composite, mean (SD) | 53.7 (9.3) | 49.3 (10.1) | 49.6 (9.9) | < 0.001 |
| AVLT, mean (SD) | ||||
| Sum of trials 1–5 | 52.2 (9.6) | 47.6 (10.8) | 48.1 (10.8) | < 0.001 |
| Serial clustering score | 0.3 (1.0) | 0.0 (1.0) | 0.0 (1.0) | < 0.01 |
Legend. Demographic characteristics and baseline strategy clustering scores are provided for control and memory-trained participants in ACTIVE.
*
In this study, skipping spaces on AVLT response forms are used as a surrogate for use of the method of loci; see Methods.
†
Pairwise comparisons of groups revealed significant difference between the AVLT skipping group and both other groups for all variables except sex and self-rated health status; AVLT non-skippers and control group participants did not differ on any covariates (P>0.1).
SD: standard deviation