TABLE 2.
Characteristics of MESA participants by quartiles of Mediterranean diet score1
| Mediterranean diet score |
|||||
| Quartile 1 (n = 896; score range: 0–2) | Quartile 2 (n = 1614; score range: 3–4) | Quartile 3 (n = 838; score range: 5–5) | Quartile 4 (n = 1149; score range: 6–9) | P | |
| Age, y | 60.3 ± 9.92 | 61.3 ± 10.3 | 61.9 ± 10.0 | 62.8 ± 10.1 | <0.001 |
| Sex, % | 0.85 | ||||
| F | 52.7 | 51.6 | 52.3 | 50.8 | |
| M | 47.3 | 48.4 | 47.7 | 49.2 | |
| Race-ethnicity, % | <0.001 | ||||
| White | 39.5 | 37.9 | 37.5 | 46.6 | |
| Chinese | 6.6 | 12.3 | 19.3 | 13.7 | |
| African American | 27.7 | 22.6 | 25.1 | 24.7 | |
| Hispanic | 26.2 | 27.1 | 18.1 | 15.1 | |
| Education, % | <0.001 | ||||
| Less than high school | 18.2 | 20.2 | 15.5 | 10.3 | |
| High school graduate/some college | 49.1 | 42.0 | 35.9 | 33.1 | |
| College graduate | 32.7 | 37.8 | 48.6 | 56.6 | |
| Cigarette smoking, % | <0.001 | ||||
| Never | 47.5 | 51.2 | 55.0 | 50.8 | |
| Former | 34.4 | 35.8 | 34.3 | 40.8 | |
| Current | 18.1 | 13.0 | 10.7 | 8.5 | |
| Height, cm | 166 ± 10 | 166 ± 10 | 166 ± 10 | 167 ± 10 | 0.003 |
| Weight, lb | 175 ± 38 | 169 ± 35 | 168 ± 36 | 168 ± 33 | <0.001 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 28.6 ± 5.3 | 27.7 ± 4.7 | 27.6 ± 5.0 | 27.1 ± 4.5 | <0.001 |
| Total calorie intake, kcal/d | 1428 ± 612 | 1577 ± 725 | 1791 ± 848 | 1936 ± 855 | <0.001 |
| Intentional physical activity, MET-min/wk | 630 (0–1680)3 | 735 (0–1890) | 945 (210–1933) | 1260 (473–2520) | <0.001 |
| History of diabetes, % | 14.0 | 12.6 | 13.4 | 10.3 | 0.056 |
| Systolic blood pressure, mm Hg | 125 ± 21 | 125 ± 21 | 125 ± 20 | 126 ± 21 | 0.61 |
| Current antihypertensive use, % | 29.8 | 31.4 | 34.1 | 29.8 | 0.15 |
| Heart rate, beats/min | 67.4 ± 11.2 | 66.7 ± 12.1 | 66.6 ± 11.7 | 65.3 ± 11.5 | <0.001 |
| Estimated glomerular filtration rate, mL · min−1 · 1.73 m−2, % | 0.13 | ||||
| ≥90 | 26.0 | 23.3 | 23.4 | 20.5 | |
| 60–89 | 62.2 | 63.9 | 64.6 | 67.5 | |
| <60 | 11.8 | 12.9 | 12.1 | 12.0 | |
| Albumin-to-creatinine ratio, mg/g, % | 0.87 | ||||
| <30 | 90.9 | 91.2 | 92.5 | 91.7 | |
| 30–300 | 7.5 | 7.6 | 6.6 | 7.0 | |
| >300 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.3 | |
| C-reactive protein, mg/L | 2.28 (0.99–4.81) | 1.81 (0.82–4.13) | 1.62 (0.74–3.44) | 1.54 (0.64–3.71) | <0.001 |
| HDL cholesterol, mg/dL | 50 ± 15 | 50 ± 15 | 52 ± 15 | 52 ± 16 | 0.002 |
| LDL cholesterol, mg/dL | 118 ± 32 | 118 ± 31 | 116 ± 30 | 116 ± 30 | 0.27 |
| Current use of lipid-lowering therapy, % | 15.2 | 16.8 | 15.1 | 15.6 | 0.73 |
1
Percentages do not sum to 100 because of rounding. P values were calculated with the use of an ANOVA for differences in means, Kruskal-Wallis tests for differences in medians, and chi-square tests for differences in proportions. MESA, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis; MET-min, metabolic equivalent task minutes.
2
Mean ± SD (all such values).
3
Median; IQR in parentheses (all such values).