Characteristics of participants included in the analysis
| Mean±SD/per cent | ||
| For longitudinal analyses of incident heart failure; assessed at the first visit | For cross-sectional analyses of echocardiographic measures of systolic dysfunction; assessed at visit 6 unless otherwise specified | |
| Number of participants | 4989 | 2336 |
| Characteristic | ||
| Age in years | 36±10 | 57±10 |
| Proportion of men (%) | 46 | 45 |
| Body mass index (kg/m2) | 25±4.3 | 27.0±4.3 |
| Any current alcohol use (%) | 85 | 62 |
| Proportion of current smokers | 63 | 14.3 |
| Current diuretic users (%) | 3.2 | 7.3 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 120±15 | 126±18 |
| Diastolic blood pressure (mm Hg) | 78±10 | 74±9 |
| Fasting glucose (mg/dl) | 94±22 | 101±25 |
| Total cholesterol (mg/dl) | 195±39 | 206±39 |
| LDL cholesterol (mg//dl) | 124±35 | 130±36 |
| HDL cholesterol (mg/dl) | 51±15 | 52±16 |
| Total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio | 4.2±1.6 | 1.7±0.4 |
| Triglycerides (mg/dl) | 91±80 | 134±100 |
| Serum urate at visit 1 (mg/dl) | 5.3±1.3 | 5.2±1.3 |
| Renal disease/dysfunction (%)* | 3.8 | 3.08 |
| Diabetes (%)* | 1.5 | 7.5 |
| Valvular heart disease (%)* | 7.3 | 8.1 |
| Current antihypertensive therapy (%) | 2.4 | 24.3 |
| Gout anytime during study (%) | 4.6 | 4.1 |
↵* Valvular heart disease was defined for this study as presence of cardiac murmur at baseline. Gout was determined based on physician diagnosis and/or gout medication use. Hypertension was defined as per JNC 7 guidelines and/or use of antihypertensive medications. Diabetes was defined as per the American Diabetes Association criteria or use of anti-diabetes medications. Renal disease was assessed by study physician based on history and study laboratory examination.
HDL, high-density lipoprotein; LDL, low-density lipoprotein.