Table 2.
Demographic and lifestyle characteristics by frequency of alcohol consumption
| Non-drinkers N = 210 | Rare N = 278 | Infrequent N = 400 | Frequent N = 151 | Daily N = 585 | p-value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex (% within sex across drinking categories) | ||||||
| Men (N = 647) | 9 | 15 | 21 | 10 | 45 | < 0.001 |
| Women (N = 977) | 15 | 18 | 27 | 9 | 30 | |
| Demographic Characteristics | ||||||
| Age (years) | 73.9 (9.5) | 74.9 (9.8) | 73.5 (9.5) | 69.4 (9.1) | 73.0 (8.5) | < 0.001 |
| Education (years) | 14.2 (2.9) | 14.3 (3.0) | 14.6 (2.8) | 14.6 (2.6) | 14.8 (2.6) | 0.03 |
| Exercise* | 18.0 (20.4) | 18.5 (18.4) | 19.3 (17.3) | 20.3 (20.4) | 20.1 (18.1) | 0.54 |
| Smoking | < 0.001 | |||||
| (% former) | 28 | 42 | 45 | 48 | 59 | |
| (% current) | 7 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 14 | |
| Waist-hip ratio† | 0.84 (0.06) | 0.84 (0.06) | 0.83 (0.06) | 0.84 (0.06) | 0.84 (0.06) | 0.11 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm HG) | 139 (23) | 137 (21) | 134 (20) | 131 (19) | 136 (19) | 0.008 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mm HG) | 75 (10) | 75 (10) | 75 (9) | 77 (9) | 76 (9) | 0.08 |
| Antihypertensive medication (% medicated) | 47 | 53 | 42 | 36 | 39 | 0.001 |
| Hypertension (%) | 65 | 68 | 57 | 48 | 59 | < 0.001 |
| Health‡ | 2.00 (1.00) | 1.93 (1.00) | 1.71 (0.84) | 1.60 (0.87) | 1.60 (0.77) | < 0.001 |
| ApoE§ (% ε4 carriers) | 23 | 22 | 20 | 24 | 21 | 0.93 |
Values shown are mean (standard deviation) unless otherwise note;
*
Exercise is expressed as Godin Leisure-Time Exercise scores, with higher scores representing higher levels of exercise;
†
Waist-hip ratio is adjusted for age and sex;
‡
Self-assessed health is on a scale from 1 to 5, with higher scores representing worse health;
§
ApoE genotype data were available for a subset of participants (83%).