Table 1.
Comparison of participant characteristics (at year 4) across the three trajectories of subjective cognitive decline (n = 5661)
| Variable | No SCD (n = 3914) | Intermittent SCD (n = 1022) | Persistent SCD (n = 725) | p valuea |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, median (IQR) | 74 (69–80) | 75 (70–82) | 75 (69–81) | 0.002 |
| Years of education, median (IQR) | 16 (14–18) | 16 (14–18) | 16 (14–18) | 0.719 |
| Male sex, n (%) | 1273 (32.5) | 319 (31.2) | 237 (32.7) | 0.708 |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | < 0.001 | |||
| White | 3248 (83.0) | 786 (76.9) | 576 (79.5) | |
| African American | 479 (12.2) | 180 (17.6) | 100 (13.8) | |
| Other/unknown | 187 (4.8) | 56 (5.5) | 49 (6.8) | |
| APOE e4 genotype, n (%) | 0.007 | |||
| Two copies of e4 allele | 89 (2.3) | 21 (2.1) | 21 (2.9) | |
| One copy of e4 allele | 1012 (25.9) | 249 (24.4) | 198 (27.3) | |
| No e4 allele | 2615 (66.8) | 678 (66.3) | 449 (61.9) | |
| Unknown | 198 (5.1) | 74 (7.2) | 57 (7.9) | |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 187 (4.8) | 33 (3.2) | 38 (5.2) | 0.068 |
| Diabetes mellitus, n (%) | 480 (12.3) | 145 (14.2) | 105 (14.5) | 0.103 |
| Hypertension, n (%) | 2154 (55.0) | 584 (57.1) | 391 (53.9) | 0.356 |
| Hyperlipidemia, n (%) | 2211 (56.5) | 609 (59.6) | 425 (58.6) | 0.153 |
| MMSE score, median (IQR) | 30 (29–30) | 29 (28–30) | 29 (28–30) | < 0.001 |
| GDS score, median (IQR) | 0 (0–1) | 1 (0–2) | 1 (0–3) | < 0.001 |
| Presence of anxiety symptoms, n (%) | 209 (5.3) | 100 (9.8) | 79 (10.9) | < 0.001 |
IQR interquartile range, MMSE Mini-Mental State Examination, GDS Geriatric Depression Scale, SCD subjective cognitive decline
aTest of difference across the three trajectories of SCD: chi-square test for categorical variables, and Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables. Bold-faced p values are ≤ 0.05