Table 1.

Demographics and AL scores for pregnant and nonpregnant women in NHANES, 1999–2006

	Nonpregnant women	Pregnant women	P
n	4993	1138
Mean age (SE)	30.57 (0.17)	27.39 (0.32)	<.01*
Race			<.01*
Non-Hispanic white	66.13%	56.43%
Non-Hispanic black	12.55%	14.22%
Mexican American	9.43%	16.14%
Other	11.89%	13.20%
Education			.16
Less than high school	23.60%	22.44%
High school diploma	22.98%	18.97%
More than high school	53.42%	58.58%
Marital status			<.01*
Married	44.90%	64.27%
Widowed	<1%	<1%
Divorced	7.28%	<1%
Separated	3.80%	1.84%
Never married	35.45%	20.85%
Living with partner	8.57%	12.08%
Ratio of family income to poverty	2.74	2.62	.21
Means and cutoffs for AL-related biomarkers†
C-reactive protein (mg/dL)
Mean (SE)	0.41 (0.02)	0.78 (0.06)	<.01*
Cutoff	>0.45	>0.91
Albumin (g/dL)
Mean (SE)	4.27 (0.01)	3.60 (0.02)	<.01*
Cutoff	<4.01	<3.21
Total cholesterol (mg/dL)
Mean (SE)	186.70 (0.73)	213.24 (2.65)	<.01*
Cutoff	>207.85	>244.51
High-density lipoprotein cholesterol (mg/dL)
Mean (SE)	55.70 (0.38)	64.38 (0.99)	<.01*
Cutoff	<44.15	<51.48
Creatinine (μmol/L)
Mean (SE)	63.49 (0.27)	48.22 (0.79)	<.01*
Cutoff	>70.71	>53.03
Hemoglobin A1C (%)
Mean (SE)	5.18 (0.01)	4.95 (0.02)	<.01*
Cutoff	>5.26	>5.10
Homocysteine (μmol/dL)
Mean (SE)	6.90 (0.06)	4.44 (0.06)	<.01*
Cutoff	>7.65	>5.07
Systolic BP (mmHg)
Mean (SE)	111.00 (0.23)	108.34 (0.62)	<.01*
Cutoff	>117.32	>113.68
Diastolic BP (mm Hg)
Mean (SE)	68.50 (0.27)	59.60 (0.62)	<.01*
Cutoff	>74.43	>66.22
60-second pulse rate
Mean (SE)	75.88 (0.24)	85.76 (0.50)	<.01*
Cutoff	>82.21	>92.90
Median AL score	2	3	<.01*
Mean AL score	2.75	2.75
Range of AL scores	0–10	0–8
Proportion with high AL (AL score >4)	30.44%	31.47%

AL = allostatic load; BP = blood pressure; SE = standard error.

^*P < .01.

^†Cutoff represents the high-risk quartile based on the distribution of each sample.