Skip to main content

Table 2 Baseline characteristics according to dementia and mortality status at the end of the follow-up

From: The association of APOE ε4 with cognitive function over the adult life course and incidence of dementia: 20 years follow-up of the Whitehall II study

Sample characteristics

Dementia over follow-up

Mortality over follow-up

No

Yes

p value

No

Yes

p value

(n = 5251)

(n = 310)

(n = 4783)

(n = 778)

Age, years, mean (SD)

55.2 (5.8)

60.9 (5.0)

< 0.001

54.9 (5.7)

59.6 (5.8)

< 0.001

Women, n (%)

1403 (26.7)

105 (33.9)

0.006

1289 (27.0)

219 (28.2)

0.49

Married/cohabiting, n (%)

4032 (76.8)

224 (72.3)

0.07

3697 (77.3)

229 (71.9)

0.001

Education level, n (%)

 Lower secondary school

2209 (42.1)

175 (56.5)

 

2028 (42.4)

356 (45.8)

 

 Higher secondary school

1459 (27.8)

65 (21.0)

 

1301 (27.2)

223 (28.7)

 

 University degree or higher

1583 (30.2)

70 (22.6)

< 0.001

1454 (30.4)

199 (25.6)

0.02

Occupation, n (%)

 Low

493 (9.4)

64 (20.7)

 

449 (9.4)

108 (13.9)

 

 Intermediate

2297 (43.7)

121 (39.0)

 

2085 (43.6)

333 (42.8)

 

 High

2461 (46.9)

125 (40.3)

< 0.001

2249 (47.0)

337 (43.3)

< 0.001

Cognitive function, mean (SD)

 Reasoning

48.8 (9.5)

44.8 (11.1)

< 0.001

48.9 (9.5)

46.4 (10.5)

< 0.001

 Memory

7.1 (2.3)

6.0 (2.2)

< 0.001

7.2 (2.3)

6.4 (2.3)

< 0.001

 Phonemic fluency

17.3 (4.3)

15.8 (4.4)

< 0.001

17.4 (4.3)

16.3 (4.2)

< 0.001

 Semantic fluency

17.0 (4.0)

15.2 (4.0)

< 0.001

17.1 (4.0)

16.2 (4.2)

< 0.001

 Standardized global cognitive score

0.0 (1.0)

− 0.5 (1.0)

< 0.001

0.0 (1.0)

− 0.3 (1.0)

< 0.001

APOE genotype, n (%)

 ε2ε2

33 (0.6)

0 (0.0)

 

28 (0.6)

5 (0.6)

 

 ε2ε3

664 (12.7)

27 (8.7)

 

593 (12.4)

98 (12.6)

 

 ε3ε3

3156 (60.1)

140 (45.2)

 

2856 (59.7)

440 (56.6)

 

 ε2ε4

131 (2.5)

8 (2.6)

 

117 (2.5)

22 (2.8)

 

 ε3ε4

1162 (22.1)

111 (35.8)

 

1082 (22.6)

191 (24.6)

 

 ε4ε4

105 (2.0)

24 (7.7)

< 0.001

107 (2.2)

22 (2.8)

0.60