Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Jul 1.
Published in final edited form as: Environ Int. 2018 Apr 24;116:239–247. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2018.04.030

Table 1.

Baseline study population characteristics of the Cardiovascular Health Study

Cohort 1 (1989–1990) Cohort 2 (1992–1993)




Total n=933 White n=777 African- American n=31 African- American n=125 p-value




Demographic, Lifestyle, and Anthropometric Characteristics
Age, years, mean, SD 72.6 (5.5) 72.6 (5.4) 73.0 (5.6) 72.5 (5.7) 0.87
Body mass index (BMI), kg/m2, mean, SD 26.4 (3.5) 26.2 (3.5) 27.6 (2.8) 26.8 (4.1) 0.01 *
Smoking Status, n, %
 Never 298 (31.9) 258 (33.2) 8 (25.8) 32 (25.6) 5.0E-4 *
 Former 521 (55.8) 441 (56.8) 17 (54.8) 63 (50.4)
 Current 113 (12.1) 78 (10.0) 6 (19.4) 29 (23.2)
Smoking pack-years, mean, SD 24.6 (28.6) 24.7 (28.8) 22.0 (20.1) 24.7 (29.2) 0.93
Alcohol intake, drinks per week, mean, SD 5 (12) 5 (9) 5 (9) 6 (23) 0.04 *
Physical activity, kcal, mean SD 2036 (2081) 2197 (2166) 1576 (1420) 1146 (1305) 1.5E-8 *
Education, n, %
 Less than High
 School 145 (15.5) 101 (13.0) 11 (35.5) 33 (26.4) 2.6E-4 *
 High School / GED 301 (32.3) 249 (32.0) 8 (25.8) 44 (35.2)
 Vocational / College 340 (36.4) 300 (38.6) 7 (22.6) 33 (26.4)
 Graduate School 147 (15.8) 127 (16.3) 5 (16.1) 15 (12.0)
 Life Occupation, n, % Professional, technical, managerial, administrative 478 (51.2) 433 (55.7) 7 (22.6) 38 (30.4) 4.8E-12 *
 Sales/clerical 102 (10.9) 94 (12.1) 0 (0.0) 8 (6.4)
 Skilled trade worker 249 (26.7) 170 (21.9 17 (54.8) 62 (49.6)
 Operator/laborer 16 (1.7) 15 (1.9) 0 (0.0) 1 (0.8)
 Farming 1 (0.1) 1 (0.1) 0 (0.0) 0 (0)
 Other 87 (9.3) 64 (8.2) 7 (22.6) 16 (12.8)
Clinic, n, %
 Winston-Salem, NC 293 (31.4) 247 (31.8) 9 (29.0) 37 (29.6) 0.02 *
 Sacramento, CA 327 (35.0) 285 (36.7) 5 (16.1) 37 (29.6)
 Pittsburgh, PA 313 (33.5) 245 (31.5) 17 (54.8) 51 (40.8)
Medical History and Characteristics
Ever diagnosed with any cancer, n, %
 No 800 (85.7) 663 (85.3) 29 (93.5) 108 (86.4) 0.43
 Yes 133 (14.3) 114 (14.7) 2 (6.5) 17 (13.6)
History of respiratory disease (COPD, asthma, bronchitis, emphysema), n, %
 No 758 (81.2) 628 (80.8) 26 (83.9) 104 (83.2) 0.76
 Yes 175 (18.8) 149 (19.2) 5 (16.1) 21 (16.8)
HDL Cholesterol, mg/dL, mean, SD 48.8 (12.7) 48 (12) 55 (14) 52 (14) 4.0E-4 *
LDL Cholesterol, mg/dL, mean, SD 115.5 (95.4) 115 (95) 123 (37) 117 (106) 0.34
Diabetes Status, n, %
 Normal 641 (68.7) 540 (69.5) 17 (54.8) 84 (67.2) 2.0E-5 *
 Impaired Fasting
 Glucose 146 (15.6) 124 (16.0) 6 (19.4) 16 (12.8)
 New Diabetes 89 (9.5) 61 (7.9) 4 (12.9) 24 (19.2)
 Existing Diabetes 55 (5.9) 51 (6.6) 4 (12.9) 0 (0)
Leukocyte Chromosome Y Mosaicism
Continuous ChrY mosaicism, ChrY: 7,502,455 – 21,979,204 fluorescent intensity (median log-R ratio; mLRR), mean, SD −0.0319 (0.0300) −0.0339 (0.0308) −0.0317 (0.0296) −0.0190 (0.0213) 8.1E-8 *
Detectable mosaic loss of ChrY (mLOY), n, %
 No 867 (92.9) 716 (92.1) 30 (96.8) 121 (96.8) 0.12
 Yes 66 (7.1) 61 (7.9) 1 (3.2) 4 (3.2)
Annual subject-specific outdoor residential air pollution concentration before blood draw
 PM10, μg/m3, mean, SD 34.3 (10.4) 35.7 (10.2) 32.8 (5.4) 27.4 (5.8) 9.9E-24 *
 CO, ppb, mean, SD 1.2 (0.5) 1.3 (0.6) 1.2 (0.4) 0.9 (0.2) 1.2E-15 *
 NO2, ppb, mean, SD 21.2 (6.3) 21.0 (6.3) 23.6 (6.8) 21.4 (4.7) 0.06
 O3, ppb, mean, SD 24.6 (8.3) 24.8 (7.7) 22.9 (7.8) 23.3 (10.4) 0.02 *
 SO2, ppb, mean, SD 13.2 (6.7) 13.5 (6.9) 16.7 (8.2) 12.4 (5.3) 0.07
*

p-values<0.05 were considered statistically significant. Discrepancy in counts due to missing data. Between categories, differences in continuous variables were assessed using Kruskal-Wallis tests, and using Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact tests for categorical variables.