Table 2.

Unadjusted and Adjusted Relationships Between Telomere Length (Base Pairs) and Covariates Among NHANES 1999–2002 Participants Aged 50–84 Years

Variables	Unadjusted			Adjusted for Age, Age Squared, White Blood Cell Count
Variables	β Coefficient	SE	P-Value	β Coefficient	SE	P-Value
Usual source of care
Yes	69.1	32.3	.041	122.9	30.5	<.001
No	ref			ref
Gender
Male	−56.6	16.2	.002	−75.2	15.5	<.001
Female	ref			ref
Age (years)	−13.8	1.4	<.001	NA
WBC count (millions/µL)	−18.7	7.1	.014	NA
Race/ethnicity
Non-Hispanic White	ref			ref
Non-Hispanic Black	117.5	48.2	.021	81.3	46.4	.091
Mexican American and Hispanic	25.9	85.6	.764	−5.9	80.5	.942
Other races	62.5	88.3	.484	8.8	82.9	.916
Education level
Less than high school	ref			ref
High school	71.9	30.6	.026	61.9	29.2	.042
Some college	54.9	34.1	.118	15.1	31.6	.636
College and above	135.5	31.0	<.001	70.6	30.5	.028
Covered by health insurance
Yes	−58.5	64.5	.372	15.5	60.2	.799
No	ref			ref
CVD history
Yes	−147.9	35.0	<.001	−67.6	35.9	.070
No	ref			ref
Emphysema history
Yes	−189.5	51.2	.001	−116.9	55.8	.045
No	ref			ref
High blood pressure
Yes	18.5	20.4	.372	74.8	22.9	.003
No	ref			ref
Smoking status
Current smoker	−16.1	39.4	.685	−58.5	34.5	.101
Former smoker	1.20	29.6	.968	−3.5	28.7	.903
Never smoked	ref			Ref
Physically inactivity
Yes	−85.3	32.1	.013	−47.4	31.8	.146
No	ref			ref

CVD, cardiovascular disease; WBC, white blood cell; NHANES, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; SE, standard error.
Linear regression was used to calculate β coefficients, standard errors, and P-values.