Data analysis
weight loss
REGRESSION
All analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4 (Cary, North Carolina) and R 4.1.3 (Exploratory analyses were also conducted to examine the association between changes in putative causal treatment mechanisms (aerobic fitness, weight loss, dietary changes, and BP) and cognitive outcomes for the purposes of hypothesis generation. Model assumptions regarding linearity, independence, and normality of residuals were assessed and found to be acceptable prior to analysis. For explanatory purposes, we also characterized the sample by baseline levels of hsCRP. To do so, we utilized previously published hsCRP clinical thresholds from baseline assessments, with hsCRP levels of ≤2.0 mg/L, 2–5 mg/L, and ≥5.0 mg/L used to delineate normal, mildly elevated, and moderately elevated CRP groups. Following convention, hsCRP levels > 10 mg/L were truncated for the purposes of analyses, and hsCRP was log‐transformed within regression models in order to preserve the normality of residuals.