Table 1.

Age-adjusted demographic, behavioral and physiologic characteristics stratified by social network size: The ARIC study 1987–1989.

	Small Social Network	Moderately Small Social Network	Moderately Large Social Network	Large Social Network
Social Network score	≤20	21–25	26–30	≥31
N	380	778	1908	10620
Demographics
Age, years*	57.1 (5.7)	57.1 (5.8)	57.2 (5.9)	56.9 (5.7)
Male, %	58.1	52.4	49.3	42.5
White, %	67.8	70.5	73.0	77.2
Married, %	42.0	53.9	65.3	84.9
Socioeconomic Status
Income, %
<$25,000	60.0	50.3	40.4	32.4
$25,000–$49,999	29.1	32.0	37.9	39.5
≥$50,000	10.9	17.8	21.7	28.1
Education, %
Less than high school	33.8	25.9	23.1	20.2
High school graduate	37.7	38.5	41.7	42.0
Beyond high school	28.5	35.6	35.2	37.8
Occupation, %
Employed	65.0	69.8	73.4	70.1
Managerial & Professional	16.5	20.1	24.3	23.7
Social Network (0–50)*	16.9 (3.5)	23.3 (1.4)	28.3 (1.4)	37.7 (4.2)
Family Networks	5.8 (3.3)	7.8 (2.9)	9.3 (2.3)	12.2 (1.9)
Friends Networks	2.8 (3.1)	4.9 (3.4)	6.6 (2.8)	9.6 (2.4)
Confidant Relationship	3.6 (1.8)	5.0 (1.8)	5.7 (1.8)	7.2 (1.6)
Helping Arrangements	2.2 (1.8)	2.7 (1.7)	3.1 (1.6)	4.2 (1.3)
Living Arrangements	2.6 (2.4)	3.0 (2.3)	3.6 (2.1)	4.6 (1.2)
Social Support (0–48)*	26.6 (7.5)	31.3 (6.9)	33.8 (6.6)	38.3 (5.7)
Behavioral risk factors
Physical activity*	2.3 (0.8)	2.3 (0.8)	2.4 (0.8)	2.5 (0.8)
Current drinkers, %	55.4	59.0	57.1	56.7
Current smokers, %	35.9	29.0	27.5	20.3
Major stroke risk factors
BMI, kg/m2*	27.7 (5.6)	27.6 (5.3)	27.8 (5.4)	28.0 (5.4)
Hypertension, %	41.1	40.4	41.6	40.2
Diabetes, %	19.1	16.7	13.9	14.5
Lipid-lowering medication use, %	3.9	6.4	6.6	6.3
Low-density lipoprotein, mg/dl*	134.2 (35.0)	131.5 (38.2)	132.7 (35.7)	133.6 (36.9)
High-density lipoprotein, mg/dl*	49.7 (20.1)	49.2 (16.5)	49.1 (17.0)	49.7 (16.6)
Potential Mediators
Vital Exhaustion* (0–42)	16.7 (11.3)	13.8 (10.5)	11.7 (9.3)	9.6 (8.1)
Highly Vital Exhausted (≥14), %	55.5	43.8	36.7	27.4
hsCRP*, mg/dL	5.0 (8.6)	4.6 (8.7)	4.3 (6.4)	4.3 (6.7)

^*Represented as mean (SD)