Table 1. Participant Characteristics by Tertile of Western Diet Score.
| Characteristic | No. (%) | P Valuea | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (N = 13 588) | Tertile 1 (n = 4553) | Tertile 2 (n = 4541) | Tertile 3 (n = 4494) | ||
| Age, mean (SD), y | 54.6 (5.7) | 55.1 (5.8) | 54.6 (5.7) | 54.0 (5.7) | <.001 |
| Women | 7588 (55.8) | 3276 (72.0) | 2576 (56.7) | 1736 (38.6) | <.001 |
| Black race | 3191 (23.5) | 1011 (22.2) | 1059 (23.3) | 1121 (24.9) | .008 |
| Study center | |||||
| Forsyth County, North Carolina | 3537 (26.0) | 1305 (28.7) | 1133 (25.0) | 1099 (24.5) | <.001 |
| Jackson, Mississippi | 2844 (20.9) | 899 (19.7) | 967 (21.3) | 978 (21.8) | |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | 3698 (27.2) | 1256 (27.6) | 1316 (29.0) | 1126 (25.1) | |
| Washington County, Maryland | 3509 (25.8) | 1093 (24.0) | 1125 (24.8) | 1291 (28.7) | |
| Education | |||||
| Below high school | 2856 (21.0) | 748 (16.4) | 908 (20.0) | 1200 (26.7) | <.001 |
| High school | 5683 (41.8) | 1850 (40.6) | 1886 (41.5) | 1947 (43.3) | |
| College or above | 5049 (37.2) | 1955 (42.9) | 1747 (38.5) | 1347 (30.0) | |
| Cigarette smoking | |||||
| Current | 3297 (24.3) | 777 (17.1) | 1100 (24.2) | 1420 (31.6) | <.001 |
| Former | 4468 (32.9) | 1504 (33.1) | 1495 (32.9) | 1469 (32.7) | |
| Never | 5817 (42.8) | 2269 (49.9) | 1944 (42.8) | 1604 (35.7) | |
| Alcohol use | |||||
| Current | 7828 (57.6) | 2539 (55.8) | 2660 (58.6) | 2629 (58.5) | <.001 |
| Former | 2388 (17.6) | 726 (15.9) | 765 (16.8) | 897 (20.0) | |
| Never | 3372 (24.8) | 1288 (28.3) | 1116 (24.6) | 968 (21.5) | |
| Activity level tertile: low to high | |||||
| 1 | 5461 (40.3) | 1534 (33.8) | 1912 (42.2) | 2015 (45.0) | <.001 |
| 2 | 4157 (30.7) | 1468 (32.3) | 1372 (30.3) | 1317 (29.4) | |
| 3 | 3931 (29.0) | 1542 (33.9) | 1245 (27.5) | 1144 (25.6) | |
| BMI, mean (SD) | 27.6 (5.3) | 27.2 (5.3) | 27.7 (5.3) | 27.9 (5.1) | <.001 |
| Energy, mean (SD), kcal/d | 1629 (605) | 1211 (375) | 1535 (399) | 2149 (590) | <.001 |
| History of coronary artery disease | 605 (4.5) | 241 (5.3) | 175 (3.9) | 189 (4.2) | .002 |
| Total cholesterol, mean (SD), mg/dL | 214.7 (41.7) | 217.0 (42.5) | 214.7 (41.7) | 212.7 (40.9) | <.001 |
| History of hypertension | 4470 (33.0) | 1519 (33.5) | 1520 (33.6) | 1431 (31.9) | .16 |
| History of diabetes | 1437 (10.7) | 488 (10.8) | 501 (11.1) | 448 (10.1) | .25 |
| No. of apolipoprotein E ε4 allele | |||||
| 0 | 9125 (69.3) | 2985 (67.7) | 3084 (70.0) | 3056 (70.4) | .007 |
| 1 | 3695 (28.1) | 1308 (29.7) | 1194 (27.1) | 1193 (27.5) | |
| 2 | 339 (2.6) | 115 (2.6) | 130 (2.9) | 94 (2.2) | |
| Prevalent stroke through visit 2 | 224 (1.6) | 65 (1.4) | 88 (1.9) | 71 (1.6) | .15 |
| Western diet score, mean (SD) | −0.03 (1.54) | −1.49 (0.44) | −0.28 (0.35) | 1.71 (1.28) | <.001 |
| Prudent diet score, mean (SD) | 0.03 (1.41) | 0.13 (1.43) | −0.10 (1.36) | 0.05 (1.44) | <.001 |
| Cohort attrition | |||||
| Missing visit 5 cognitive test | 7873 (57.9) | 2555 (56.1) | 2612 (57.5) | 2706 (60.2) | <.001 |
| Death | 3880 (28.6) | 1148 (25.2) | 1277 (28.1) | 1455 (32.4) | <.001 |
Abbreviation: BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared).
SI conversion factor: To convert total cholesterol to mmol/L, multiply by 0.0259.
a
P value represents χ2 or 2-sided t tests as appropriate.