Table 2. Participant Characteristics by Sex and Race at the Baseline GXTa,b,c.
| Characteristic | No. (%) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | Black | White | |||
| Female | Male | Female | Male | ||
| No. of participants | 4784 | 1389 (29) | 1041 (22) | 1268 (27) | 1086 (23) |
| Field center clinic | |||||
| Birmingham, Alabama | 1076 (22) | 331 (24) | 257 (25) | 245 (19) | 243 (22) |
| Chicago, Illinois | 1048 (22) | 303 (22) | 214 (21) | 274 (22) | 257 (24) |
| Minneapolis, Minnesota | 1318 (28) | 296 (21) | 274 (26) | 398 (31) | 350 (32) |
| Oakland, California | 1342 (28) | 459 (33) | 296 (28) | 351 (28) | 236 (22) |
| Age, mean (SD), y | 24.8 (3.7) | 24.3 (3.8) | 24.0 (3.7) | 25.4 (3.4) | 25.3 (3.4) |
| GXT duration, mean (SD), min | 9.7 (3.1) | 7.1 (2.1) | 11.1 (2.6) | 9.2 (2.4) | 12.2 (2.5) |
| Resting | |||||
| Heart rate, bpm | 78 (15) | 82 (13) | 70 (14) | 83 (14) | 75 (14) |
| Blood pressure, mm Hg | |||||
| Systolic | 116 (13) | 113 (11) | 122 (13) | 110 (10) | 121 (12) |
| Diastolic | 76 (11) | 74 (10) | 80 (12) | 72 (9) | 78 (11) |
| Heart rate at maximal exercise, bpm | 179 (16) | 174 (16) | 177 (17) | 181 (13) | 185 (14) |
| Blood pressure at maximal exercise, mm Hg | |||||
| Systolic | 179 (26) | 165 (22) | 197 (24) | 166 (19) | 196 (21) |
| Diastolic | 78 (13) | 77 (13) | 81 (12) | 74 (13) | 79 (14) |
| Rating of perceived exertion at maximal exercise, mean (SD), points | 17.9 (2.1) | 17.4 (2.1) | 17.7 (2.2) | 18.2 (2.3) | 18.5 (1.6) |
| Recovery heart rate: 2-min postexercise, bpm | 136 (19) | 132 (18) | 131 (20) | 139 (17) | 142 (17) |
| Educational level | |||||
| ≥Associate's degree | 1565 (33) | 274 (20) | 188 (18) | 605 (48) | 498 (46) |
| ≤High school diploma or GED certificate | 3203 (67) | 1112 (80) | 849 (82) | 661 (52) | 581 (54) |
| Difficulty paying for basics | |||||
| Not very hard | 3138 (66) | 853 (61) | 629 (61) | 857 (68) | 799 (74) |
| Somewhat hard | 1639 (34) | 534 (39) | 410 (39) | 408 (32) | 287 (26) |
| Marital status | |||||
| Married or cohabitating | 1058 (22) | 271 (20) | 189 (18) | 355 (28) | 243 (22) |
| Otherd | 3723 (78) | 1117 (80) | 851 (82) | 912 (72) | 843 (78) |
| BMI, mean (SD) | 24.4 (4.9) | 25.7 (6.4) | 24.5 (4.2) | 23.1 (4.3) | 24.3 (3.5) |
| Physical activity | |||||
| Meeting guidelines | 2811 (59) | 519 (37) | 756 (73) | 738 (58) | 798 (73) |
| Not meeting guidelines | 1972 (41) | 869 (63) | 285 (27) | 530 (42) | 288 (27) |
| Self-reported health | |||||
| Excellent or good | 4279 (90) | 1160 (84) | 914 (89) | 1187 (94) | 1018 (94) |
| Fair or poor | 473 (10) | 214 (16) | 118 (11) | 76 (6) | 65 (6) |
| Alcohol use in past year | |||||
| No | 653 (14) | 297 (21) | 151 (15) | 119 (9) | 86 (8) |
| Yes | 4116 (86) | 1091 (79) | 887 (85) | 1147 (91) | 991 (92) |
| Tobacco use | |||||
| Current | 1407 (30) | 431 (31) | 367 (36) | 336 (27) | 273 (25) |
| Former | 631 (13) | 116 (8) | 94 (9) | 253 (20) | 168 (16) |
| Never | 2714 (57) | 837 (60) | 569 (55) | 673 (53) | 635 (59) |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); bpm, beats per minute; GED, General Educational Development; GXT, graded exercise test.
a
Data were from the baseline GXT (1985-1986) unless otherwise noted.
b
Baseline data are not presented for 24 participants (.05% of analytic sample) who did not complete the GXT at baseline but did complete the year 7 and/or year 20 follow-up examinations.
c
Calculated with Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test for continuous variables and Pearson χ2 test for categorical variables. P < .001 for all variables.
d
Other marital status included widowed, divorced, separated, and never married.