Table 1.

Mean Walking Speed (m/s) According to Selected Characteristics of the Sample

	MEN (N=4489)				WOMEN (N=1856)
	N	mean	SD	Test P	N	mean	SD	Test P
Demographic and psychosocial
Ethnicity
White	4201	1.37	0.28		1594	1.23	0.30
South Asian	178	1.14	0.31		113	1.04	0.25
Black	58	1.24	0.29		108	1.05	0.26
Other	52	1.22	0.32	<0.001	41	1.10	0.26	<0.001
Marital status
Married/cohabiting	3706	1.37	0.28		1057	1.22	0.29
Single/divorced/widowed	757	1.33	0.29	0.003	779	1.19	0.31	0.017
Labor market status
working	2394	1.40	0.27		781	1.30	0.28
retired	1864	1.31	0.28		924	1.14	0.29
unemployed	155	1.34	0.34		101	1.24	0.29
long term sick/not working	58	1.10	0.36	<0.001	41	0.96	0.34	<0.001
Financial insecurity
never/rarely	3159	1.38	0.28		1150	1.24	0.29
seldom	806	1.32	0.29		384	1.17	0.28
sometimes/always	452	1.30	0.30	<0.001*	279	1.16	0.33	<0.001*
Social network scale
tertile 1	1072	1.35	0.29		425	1.22	0.31
tertile 2	1479	1.36	0.28		671	1.23	0.30
tertile 3	1766	1.37	0.28	0.14*	652	1.20	0.29	0.11*
Practical support (closest person)
tertile 1	849	1.35	0.28		583	1.23	0.30
tertile 2	1247	1.37	0.28		455	1.22	0.29
tertile 3	2256	1.36	0.29	0.85*	729	1.20	0.30	0.015*
Confiding support (closest person)
tertile 1	1386	1.35	0.27		581	1.21	0.29
tertile 2	1119	1.38	0.29		512	1.21	0.29
tertile 3	1845	1.36	0.29	0.56*	673	1.22	0.31	0.50*
Negative support (closest person)
tertile 1	716	1.37	0.29		305	1.20	0.32
tertile 2	2104	1.38	0.28		791	1.22	0.28
tertile 3	1526	1.34	0.29	<0.001*	668	1.21	0.30	0.86*
Health and physical functioning
Angina or MI
no	3969	1.37	0.28		1673	1.22	0.30
yes	520	1.28	0.31	<0.001	183	1.09	0.29	<0.001
Diabetes
no	4134	1.37	0.28		1676	1.22	0.30
yes	355	1.28	0.31	<0.001	180	1.09	0.30	<0.001
FEV1
low	819	1.30	0.29		367	1.10	0.27
2nd quartile	822	1.37	0.27		381	1.18	0.27
3rd quartile	827	1.41	0.28		373	1.26	0.28
high	852	1.42	0.27	<0.001*	379	1.36	0.29	<0.001*
SF36 physical functioning
low	988	1.22	0.30		381	0.96	0.28
2nd quartile	464	1.34	0.25		445	1.21	0.25
3rd quartile	767	1.39	0.27		481	1.28	0.26
high	2201	1.42	0.27	<0.001*	512	1.34	0.27	<0.001*
Musculoskeletal disorders
no	3761	1.37	0.28		1402	1.24	0.28
yes	703	1.31	0.31	<0.001	443	1.11	0.32	<0.001
Chronic respiratory illness
no	4279	1.36	0.29		1740	1.21	0.30
yes	185	1.34	0.28	0.42	105	1.13	0.32	0.005
Height and adiposity
Height (m)
quartile 1	1112	1.29	0.29		463	1.13	0.28
quartile 2	1069	1.36	0.27		438	1.19	0.30
quartile 3	1167	1.38	0.27		487	1.22	0.27
quartile 4	1137	1.41	0.30	<0.001*	462	1.29	0.32	<0.001*
Body mass index (kg/m2)
15.1–20	103	1.40	0.28		93	1.28	0.30
20.1–25	1517	1.39	0.30		637	1.29	0.29
25.1–30	2153	1.36	0.27		658	1.19	0.28
30.1–57.1	704	1.29	0.30	<0.001*	460	1.11	0.29	<0.001*
Health behaviors
Smoking status
never smoker	1926	1.39	0.29		917	1.23	0.30
ex-smoker	1835	1.34	0.27		575	1.21	0.30
current smoker	542	1.31	0.28	<0.001	183	1.19	0.29	0.27
Light exercise
quartile 1	1041	1.35	0.30		445	1.17	0.32
quartile 2	1140	1.37	0.28		438	1.21	0.30
quartile 3	1082	1.37	0.29		462	1.24	0.28
quartile 4	1154	1.36	0.28	0.53*	459	1.23	0.30	0.002*
Moderate exercise
quartile 1	1089	1.33	0.30		436	1.13	0.31
quartile 2	1123	1.36	0.27		462	1.21	0.28
quartile 3	1126	1.38	0.29		460	1.23	0.29
quartile 4	1101	1.37	0.28	<0.001*	458	1.28	0.29	<0.001*
Vigorous exercise
None	2537	1.34	0.29		1197	1.17	0.29
tertile 1	630	1.39	0.27		201	1.30	0.30
tertile 2	606	1.41	0.29		191	1.24	0.28
tertile 3	644	1.39	0.27	<0.001*	215	1.35	0.29	<0.001*

^*Test P value for trend if marked with asterisk, otherwise for difference or heterogeneity

Financial insecurity, difficulties paying bills or affording food/clothes (sometimes/often)

Angina or MI, confirmed angina pectoris or non-fatal myocardial infarction

Self-report or screen detected (75g oral glucose tolerance test) diabetes

FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 s

SF-36, Short Form 36 physical function scale score (range 0–100)

Amount of exercise in MET-h at 3 exercise intensity levels: light, <3 cal/kg/h; moderate, 3–6 cal/kg/h; vigorous, >6 cal/kg/h