Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of the study population
| No. (%) of participants, vascular risk factors | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 178,586) | AD (n = 10,732) | Non-AD (n = 167,854) | P value | |
| Sex* | < 0.0001 | |||
| Male | 81,242 (45.5) | 3742 (34.9) | 77,500 (46.2) | |
| Female | 97,344 (54.5) | 6990 (65.1) | 90,354 (53.8) | |
| Age group* | < 0.0001 | |||
| 65 to 69 years | 23,471 (13.1) | 74 (0.7) | 23,397 (13.9) | |
| 70 to 74 years | 80,333 (45.0) | 2352 (21.9) | 77,981 (46.5) | |
| 75 to 79 years | 48,208 (27.0) | 3898 (36.3) | 44,310 (26.4) | |
| Older than 80 years | 26,574 (14.9) | 4408 (41.1) | 22,166 (13.2) | |
| Income, deciles* | < 0.0001 | |||
| Medical aid | 1899 (1.1) | 258 (2.4) | 1641 (1.0) | |
| Low (1st–3rd decile) | 36,433 (20.4) | 2037 (19.0) | 34,396 (20.5) | |
| Middle (4th–7th decile) | 48,421 (27.1) | 2832 (26.4) | 45,589 (27.2) | |
| High (8th–10th decile) | 91,833 (51.4) | 5605 (52.2) | 86,228 (51.4) | |
| Lifestyles | ||||
| Smoking status* | < 0.0001 | |||
| Never smoking | 130,940 (73.3) | 8475 (79.0) | 122,465 (73.0) | |
| Ex-smoking | 26,613 (14.9) | 1230 (11.5) | 25,383 (15.1) | |
| Current smoking | 21,033 (11.8) | 1027 (9.6) | 20,006 (11.9) | |
| Alcohol consumption* | < 0.0001 | |||
| Rarely (0–2 days/week) | 158,170 (88.6) | 9795 (91.3) | 148,375 (88.4) | |
| Light (3–4 days/week) | 9275 (5.2) | 376 (3.5) | 8899 (5.3) | |
| Heavy (5–7 days/week) | 11,141 (6.2) | 561 (5.2) | 10,580 (6.3) | |
| Exercise* | < 0.0001 | |||
| No exercise | 121,405 (68.0) | 7795 (72.6) | 113,610 (67.7) | |
| Exercise | 57,181 (32.0) | 2937 (27.4) | 54,244 (32.3) | |
| Comorbidities | ||||
| Depression* | 14,075 (7.9) | 1270 (11.8) | 12,805 (7.6) | < 0.0001 |
| Charlson Comorbidity Index* | < 0.0001 | |||
| 0 | 21,574 (12.1) | 975 (9.1) | 20,599 (12.3) | |
| 1 | 40,912 (22.9) | 2014 (18.8) | 38,898 (23.2) | |
| ≥ 2 | 116,100 (65.0) | 7743 (72.2) | 108,357 (64.6) | |
| Healthcare visit frequency*,† | < 0.0001 | |||
| First quartile | 44,748 (25.1) | 1904 (17.7) | 42,844 (25.5) | |
| Second quartile | 44,669 (25.0) | 2325 (21.7) | 42,344 (25.2) | |
| Third quartile | 44,595 (25.0) | 2751 (25.6) | 41,844 (24.9) | |
| Fourth quartile | 44,574 (25.0) | 3752 (35.0) | 40,822 (24.3) | |
| Medication history* | ||||
| HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors | 41,904 (23.5) | 2611 (24.3) | 39,293 (23.4) | 0.029 |
| Antidiabetic medication | 28,439 (15.9) | 2056 (19.2) | 26,383 (15.7) | < 0.0001 |
| Antihypertensive medication | 106,098 (59.4) | 6101 (62.4) | 99,397 (59.2) | < 0.0001 |
| Antidepressants | 10,318 (5.8) | 1028 (9.6) | 9290 (5.5) | < 0.0001 |
| Benzodiazepine and sleep pill | 47,203 (26.4) | 3835 (35.7) | 43,368 (25.8) | < 0.0001 |
| Antiplatelet medication | 50,994 (28.6) | 3491 (32.5) | 47,503 (28.3) | < 0.0001 |
| Laboratory findings, mean (SD) | ||||
| Cholesterol level, mg/dL‡ | ||||
| Total cholesterol | 196.4 (38.4) | 198.6 (39.3) | 196.3 (38.4) | < 0.0001 |
| LDL-C | 116.2 (35.3) | 117.6 (35.8) | 116.1 (35.2) | < 0.0001 |
| HDL-C | 52.8 (13.4) | 52.9 (13.7) | 52.8 (13.4) | 0.211 |
| Triglyceride | 135.6 (68.6) | 138.6 (69.9) | 135.4 (68.5) | < 0.0001 |
| Fasting glucose, mg/dL‡ | 101.9 (21.0) | 102.8 (22.3) | 101.9 (20.9) | < 0.0001 |
| Hemoglobin, g/dL‡ | 13.3 (1.5) | 13.0 (1.4) | 13.3 (1.5) | < 0.0001 |
| Physical examination findings, mean (SD)‡ | ||||
| Systolic blood pressure, mmHg | 130.3 (15.9) | 130.4 (16.4) | 130.3 (15.9) | 0.534 |
| Diastolic blood pressure, mmHg | 78.0 (9.8) | 78.1 (10.1) | 78.1 (9.8) | 0.728 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 23.8 (3.1) | 23.5 (3.2) | 23.8 (3.1) | < 0.0001 |
*Group comparisons by chi-squared tests
†The fourth quartile group had the highest frequency of medical visits
‡Group comparisons by T tests