TABLE 1.
Characteristics of study participants in the REGARDS study, 2003–20071
| Characteristics | All (n = 1546) summary |
|---|---|
| Demographics | |
| Age (y) | 65.37 ± 8.82 |
| White [n (%)] | 837 (54.1) |
| Female [n (%)] | 928 (60.0) |
| Education [n (%)] | |
| College | 550 (35.7) |
| Some college | 419 (27.2) |
| High school | 381 (24.7) |
| Less than high school | 192 (12.5) |
| Income [n (%)] | |
| <$20,000 | 272 (17.6) |
| $20,000–$34,999 | 350 (22.6) |
| $35,000–$74,999 | 490 (34.7) |
| ≥$75,000 | 229 (14.8) |
| Not reported | 205 (13.3) |
| Multivitamin use [n (%)]3 | 559 (36.1) |
| Comorbidity | |
| C-reactive protein4 | 2.17 (4.2) |
| Previous stroke [n (%)] | 93 (6.0) |
| Previous transient ischemic attacks [n (%)] | 59 (4.1) |
The REGARDS study had 30,239 participants; from this larger cohort, we selected a random sample of 1547 REGARDS participants aged ≥50 y with a baseline complete blood count and measured their serum folate and cobalamin concentrations for this analysis. One participant was excluded because of an insufficient stored sample for serum folate testing; the final analytic sample size was 1546. REGARDS, Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke.
Mean ± SD.
On the basis of a medication inventory.
Median; IQR in parentheses. The median is reported because the variable C-reactive protein was not normally distributed. This variable was assessed by using statistical tests for normal distribution.