Table 1.
Descriptive statistics* for hs-CRP, self-rated health, additional measures of health and health behaviors, and demographic and psychological characteristics.
| Overall N=13,236 |
Male N=6,055 |
Female N=7,181 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous Variables | ||||||
| Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | |
| Variables Used in Main Analyses | ||||||
| hs-CRP (range: 0–205) | 4.73 | 8.61 | 3.27 | 6.74 | 6.16 | 9.73 |
| Self-Rated Health | 2.36 | 0.92 | 2.33 | 0.91 | 2.40 | 0.92 |
| Subclinical symptoms | 0.46 | 0.73 | 0.39 | 0.68 | 0.53 | 0.77 |
| Infect./Inflamm. Illness | 0.46 | 0.67 | 0.42 | 0.63 | 0.50 | 0.70 |
| Other illness | 0.40 | 0.67 | 0.36 | 0.64 | 0.45 | 0.70 |
| Physical activity** | 1.58 | 2.61 | 2.04 | 2.98 | 1.13 | 2.16 |
| Alcohol use*** | 2.32 | 1.80 | 2.67 | 1.87 | 1.97 | 1.67 |
| BMI | 29.22 | 7.62 | 29.10 | 6.77 | 29.33 | 8.26 |
| BMI2 | 911.54 | 532.51 | 894.06 | 467.72 | 928.80 | 581.07 |
| Waist circumference | 98.71 | 17.60 | 99.92 | 16.24 | 97.50 | 18.60 |
| Variables Used in Sensitivity Analyses | ||||||
| hs-CRP (range: 0–9.99) | 2.52 | 2.41 | 2.19 | 2.16 | 2.90 | 2.58 |
| Age | 28.42 | 1.78 | 28.51 | 1.78 | 28.32 | 1.77 |
| Education | 5.46 | 2.00 | 5.23 | 2.00 | 5.68 | 1.97 |
| Depressive Symptoms | 2.13 | 2.25 | 1.97 | 2.05 | 2.29 | 2.39 |
| Neuroticism | 10.40 | 2.76 | 9.84 | 2.63 | 10.95 | 2.76 |
| Categorical Variables | ||||||
| Unweigh.N | Weigh.% | Unweigh.N | Weigh. % | Unweigh.N | Weight. % | |
| Variables Used in Main Models | ||||||
| Medication use | 3908 | 30 | 1614 | 26 | 2294 | 33 |
| Never smoked [ref] | 7292 | 51 | 3084 | 48 | 4208 | 54 |
| Past smoker | 2979 | 24 | 1429 | 24 | 1550 | 23 |
| Current smoker | 2896 | 25 | 1502 | 28 | 1394 | 22 |
| Variables Used in Sensitivity Analyses | ||||||
| Hispanic | 2091 | 12 | 970 | 12 | 1121 | 12 |
| Black | 2787 | 15 | 1151 | 15 | 1636 | 16 |
| Asian | 830 | 3 | 418 | 3 | 412 | 3 |
| American Indian | 241 | 2 | 117 | 2 | 124 | 2 |
| Other race | 110 | 1 | 53 | 1 | 57 | 1 |
| White [ref] | 7177 | 66 | 3346 | 67 | 3831 | 66 |
| Married | 5823 | 45 | 2453 | 41 | 3370 | 49 |
| Pregnant | . | . | . | . | 438 | 6 |
| Oral contraceptives | . | . | . | . | 2119 | 30 |
| Insomnia | 1961 | 15 | 740 | 13 | 1221 | 18 |
Weighted means and standard deviations are reported for continuous measures. Unweighted Ns and weighted percentages are reported for categorical measures.
Physical activity is a continuous measure based on the sum of two questions: “In the past seven days, how many times did you participate in individual sports such as running, wrestling, swimming, cross-country skiing, cycle racing, or martial arts?” and “In the past seven days, how many times did you participate in gymnastics, weight lifting, or strength training?” Responses for the individual items ranged from 0= not at all to 7= 7 or more times.
Drinking is a continuous measure based on the question “During the past 12 months, on how many days did you drink alcohol?” with values ranging from 0= never to 6= almost every day.