Table 1.

Characteristics of Cases of Cognitive Decline^a (First Decile of Slope or Lower) and Controls (Greater Than Median Slope) in the Nurses’ Health Study, United States, 1986^b

Characteristic	Cases (n = 1,496)		Controls (n = 7,478)
	Mean (SD)	%	Mean (SD)	%
Response to the 1986 questionnaireb		95.9		95.8
Age, years	61.3 (2.5)		60.9 (2.4)
Educational level
Registered nurse		78.3		77.0
Bachelor’s degree		16.1		16.9
Master’s or doctoral degree		5.6		6.1
Current smokerc		19.7		15.8
History of chronic disease
High blood pressure		38.7		31.3
High cholesterol level		19.5		17.2
Diabetes mellitus		4.9		2.8
Body mass indexc,d	25.9 (4.8)		25.3 (4.2)
Body mass index categoryc
Underweight (<18.5)		1.4		0.9
Normal-weight (18.5–24.9)		48.9		54.7
Overweight (25.0–29.9)		32.8		31.7
Obese (≥30.0)		16.9		12.8
Physical activity, MET-hours/week
Total	13.1 (25.2)		13.6 (18.3)
Low-intensitye	6.7 (9.2)		7.4 (9.6)
A-MeDi scorec	4.3 (1.8)		4.4 (1.9)
A-MeDi componentsc
Food consumption, servings/day
Vegetables	3.3 (1.9)		3.3 (1.9)
Legumes	0.4 (0.3)		0.4 (0.3)
Fruits	2.6 (1.5)		2.6 (1.5)
Nuts	0.4 (0.5)		0.4 (0.5)
Whole grains	1.6 (1.2)		1.6 (1.2)
Fish	0.4 (0.3)		0.4 (0.3)
Red/processed meat	0.8 (0.5)		0.8 (0.5)
Alcohol consumption, g/day	6.3 (11.3)		6.5 (10.7)
MUFA:SFA ratio	1.1 (0.2)		1.1 (0.2)

Abbreviations: A-MeDi, alternate Mediterranean diet; MET, metabolic equivalent of task; MUFA, monounsaturated fatty acid; SD, standard deviation; SFA, saturated fatty acid.

^a Cognitive decline was measured using the Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (25).

^b The midpoint time of the longest study period for exposures (i.e., 1986 for body mass index).

^c Among nonmissing values. Data were missing for 0.3% of cases and 0.1% of controls for smoking, 15.8% of cases and 12.0% of controls for body mass index, and 20.7% of cases and 18.3% of controls for A-MeDi score.

^d Weight (kg)/height (m)².

^e Low-intensity physical activity was calculated as the sum of walking and stair-climbing.