Table 1.

Characteristics across quartiles of serum β-2-microglobulin (B2M) in 12,300 participants; ARIC, 1990–1992.

Characteristics (mean (SD) or prevalence %)	Quartiles of B2M (mg/L)
	≤1.66 N=3063	1.67–1.88 N=3140	1.89–2.15 N=3046	≥2.16 N=3051
Age at Visit 2 (years)	54.3 (5.1)	56.2 (5.5)	57.6 (5.6)	59.1 (5.5)
Female, %	59.0	53.2	53.3	56.1
White, %	63.7	75.4	80.2	78.5
Body mass index, kg/m2	26.7 (4.8)	27.3 (5.0)	28.0 (5.3)	28.9 (5.9)
Education, %
< high school	18.3	19.6	21.9	27.7
high school	31.4	33.1	34.3	33.8
> high school	50.4	47.3	43.8	38.6
Pack-years of smoking	12.7 (18.6)	14.4 (19.9)	15.6 (20.9)	16.7 (22.3)
Alcohol intake, g/week	6.1 (13.4)	5.6 (13.4)	5.1 (13.8)	4.4 (13.6)
Aspirin use, % yes	44.5	45.3	47.7	48.2
Diabetes, % yes	11.4	8.8	9.5	14.3
HRT use, % ever, for females	38.8	34.1	29.6	25.0
eGFR, mL/min/1.73 m2 (SD)	110 (11)	100 (10)	92 (11)	78 (16)
Cystatin C, mg/dL (SD)	0.7 (0.1)	0.8 (0.1)	0.9 (0.1)	1.1 (0.5)
Creatinine, mg/dL (SD)	1.1 (0.2)	1.1 (0.2)	1.2 (0.2)	1.3 (0.7)
hs-CRP*, mg/L (SD)	1.8 (1.8)	2.1 (2.1)	2.6 (2.6)	3.7 (4.0)

^*Geometric mean for hs-CRP was calculated because of the non-normal distribution.