Table 1.
Longitudinal sociodemographic and neighborhood characteristics among participants in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), 2000–2010
| Exam 1 | Exam 2 | Exam 3 | Exam 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median (Q1–Q3) | Median (Q1–Q3) | Median (Q1–Q3) | Median (Q1–Q3) | |
| Total transport walking minutes/week (minute) | 180 (60–420) | 120 (35–315) | 120 (35–325) | 150 (30–420) |
| Time-varying covariates | Mean (STD) | Mean (STD) | Mean (STD) | Mean (STD) |
| Age | 60 (9.5) | 62 (9.5) | 63 (9.5) | 70 (9.5) |
| Income-wealth indexa (ranges from 0 to 8) | 5.02 (2.24) | 5.00 (2.25) | 5.01 (2.23) | 5.01 (2.19) |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 28.30 (5.40) | 28.40 (5.52) | 28.38 (5.56) | 28.47 (5.67) |
| Population density per square mile | 15508.14 (19487.05) | 15296.48 (19505.22) | 15015.29 (19342.31) | 14581.92 (19254.95) |
| Street network ratio | 0.42 (0.15) | 0.41 (0.15) | 0.41 (0.15) | 0.41 (0.16) |
| % | % | % | % | |
| Currently employed | 61.41 | 58.57 | 56.4 | 44.21 |
| Own at least one car | 84.82 | 84.82 | 84.59 | 85.87 |
| Arthritis flare-up in past 2 weeks | 10.94 | 10.32 | 11.99 | 19.37 |
| Self-rated health compared with others | % | % | % | % |
| Better | 60.59 | 60.59 | 60.26 | 58.63 |
| Same | 34.86 | 34.86 | 35.5 | 36.08 |
| Worse | 4.55 | 4.55 | 4.24 | 5.29 |
| Regionb | % | % | % | % |
| Northeast | 16.87 | 16.87 | 16.76 | 16.66 |
| Midwest | 36.93 | 36.44 | 36.21 | 35.91 |
| South | 30 | 30.36 | 30.46 | 30.87 |
| West | 16.2 | 16.33 | 16.56 | 16.56 |
| Time-invariant covariates | % | |||
| Female sex | 52.95 | |||
| Race/ethnicity | ||||
| White | 42.42 | |||
| Black/African American | 25.45 | |||
| Chinese | 11.96 | |||
| Hispanic | 20.16 | |||
| Education level | ||||
| High school/GED or less | 30.49 | |||
| Some college | 29.16 | |||
| BA or above | 40.35 | |||
Note:
An income-wealth index was created by adding together two 5-categorey variables, inflation adjusted per capita income (ranges from 0 to 4) and wealth index (ranges from 0 to 4). Inflation adjusted per capita income was created by the following formula ([annual household income * inflation factor at the year of exam] / number of people in the household)/ $10000. Next, in order to combine it with wealth, income per capita was subsequently categorized into quintiles. Wealth index was calculated as the sum of home ownership (0 or 1), car ownership (0 or 1), land ownership (0 or 1), and investments (0 or 1). After summing the 5 categories of income and 5-categories of wealth, this yielded a 9-point scale (0 being the lowest level of income and no assets and 8 being the highest level of income and all 4 assets). The MESA income-wealth index has been previously described in depth (Hajat et al., 2010).
Region categories came from Census catogories.