Table 1. Characteristics of Study Participants from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) at Baseline.
| Total (n = 15827) |
Men (n = 7264) |
Women (n = 8563) |
P Value |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sociodemographic Background | ||||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 54.3 (4.08) | 55.1 (3.96) | 53.5 (4.04) | <.001 |
| Study cohort, 1942-1947 | 2242 (14.2) | 1087 (15.0) | 1155 (13.5) | .008 |
| Study cohort, 1948-1953 | 2881 (18.2) | 1348 (18.6) | 1533 (17.9) | .288 |
| Hispanic | 1541 (9.74) | 693 (9.54) | 848 (9.90) | .443 |
| Non-Hispanic Black | 2424 (15.3) | 1005 (13.8) | 1419 (16.6) | <.001 |
| Non-Hispanic other race | 397 (2.51) | 183 (2.52) | 214 (2.50) | .936 |
| Lives in the South | 6406 (40.5) | 2918 (40.2) | 3488 (40.7) | .472 |
| Marital Status | ||||
| Continuously married | 8908 (56.3) | 4278 (58.9) | 4630 (54.1) | <.001 |
| Remarried | 3624 (22.9) | 1903 (26.2) | 1721 (20.1) | |
| Divorced | 2571 (16.2) | 989 (13.6) | 1582 (18.5) | |
| Widowed | 724 (4.57) | 94 (1.29) | 630 (7.36) | |
| Cumulative Number of Divorces | ||||
| 0 Divorces | 10331 (65.3) | 4718 (65.0) | 5613 (65.6) | .212 |
| 1 Divorces | 4181 (26.4) | 1912 (26.3) | 2269 (26.5) | |
| ≥ 2 Divorces | 1315 (8.31) | 634 (8.73) | 681 (7.95) | |
| Socioeconomic Factors | ||||
| Years of education, mean (SD) | 12.5 (3.12) | 12.6 (3.31) | 12.4 (2.95) | <.001 |
| Lifetime occupation, professional or managerial | 4339 (27.4) | 2165 (29.8) | 2174 (25.4) | <.001 |
| Not employed | 4462 (28.2) | 1523 (21.0) | 2939 (34.3) | <.001 |
| Total income in thousands of dollars, mean (SD) | 24.6 (41.8) | 34.6 (55.2) | 16.2 (22.0) | <.001 |
| No health insurance | 2512 (15.9) | 1039 (14.3) | 1473 (17.2) | <.001 |
| Psychosocial Factors | ||||
| Lives alone | 1411 (8.92) | 540 (7.43) | 871 (10.2) | <.001 |
| No children | 821 (5.19) | 448 (6.17) | 373 (4.36) | <.001 |
| CES-D depressive symptoms, mean (SD) | 1.89 (1.99) | 1.60 (1.84) | 2.13 (2.07) | <.001 |
| Behavioral Factors | ||||
| Current smoker | 4066 (25.7) | 2015 (27.7) | 2051 (24.0) | <.001 |
| No alcohol consumption | 5939 (37.5) | 2174 (30.0) | 3765 (44.0) | <.001 |
| Excess alcohol consumption | 1959 (12.4) | 963 (13.3) | 996 (11.6) | .002 |
| No vigorous exercise | 11697 (73.9) | 5249 (72.3) | 6448 (75.3) | <.001 |
| Physiological Status | ||||
| Underweight, BMI < 18.5 | 199 (1.26) | 35 (0.48) | 164 (1.91) | <.001 |
| Normal weight, BMI 18.5-24.9 | 5113 (32.3) | 1918 (26.4) | 3195 (37.3) | |
| Overweight, BMI 25.0-29.9 | 6493 (41.0) | 3591 (49.4) | 2902 (33.9) | |
| Obese, BMI ≥ 30.0 | 2720 (17.2) | 1279 (17.6) | 1441 (16.8) | |
| Hypertension | 5062 (32.0) | 2419 (33.3) | 2643 (30.9) | <.001 |
| Diabetes | 1444 (9.12) | 708 (9.75) | 736 (8.60) | .012 |
| AMI during study period | 1211 (7.65) | 762 (10.5) | 449 (5.24) | <.001 |
Abbreviations: SD, standard deviation; CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale; AMI, acute myocardial infarction; BMI, body mass index.
P values calculated by analysis of variance or x2 tests.