Table 1

Characteristics of the sample for telephone survey by gender

	Male		Female
	N	Per cent	N	%	p Value
Sample size	1201	51.2	1146	48.8
Age (years, mean, SD)	77.3	6.6	77.3	6.6	0.959
Marital status
Ex-married	194	16.2	734	64.0	<0.001
Single	31	2.6	22	1.9
Married	974	81.2	389	34.0
Smoking history					<0.001
Never	375	31.2	498	43.5
Current	606	50.5	437	38.1
Quit	220	18.3	211	18.4
Alcohol use	410	34.1	199	17.4	<0.001
Exercise (times/week, mean, SD)	5.6	2.6	5.4	2.7	0.068
BMI (kg/m², mean, SD)	23.7	3.1	24.1	3.9	<0.01
Hospitalisation	218	18.2	219	19.1	0.560
Self-rated health					<0.001
Better	452	37.6	302	26.4
Normal	632	52.6	643	56.1
Worse	117	9.7	201	17.5
PCS12 score (mean, SD)	42.9	10.8	37.6	11.1	<0.001
MCS12 score (mean, SD)	52.8	9.0	50.2	10.8	<0.001
Education level					<0.001
Postsecondary	105	8.7	19	1.7
Secondary	300	25.0	101	8.8
Primary	610	50.8	355	31.0
Uneducated	127	10.6	242	21.1
Illiterate	59	4.9	429	37.4
House tenure					<0.001
Self-owned	627	52.2	500	43.6
Non-self-owned	574	47.8	646	56.4
Income					<0.001
>10000	46	3.8	25	2.2
6000–9999	102	8.5	97	8.5
3000–5999	321	26.7	421	36.7
2000–2999	295	24.6	339	29.6
1000–1999	260	21.7	150	13.1
<1000	177	14.7	114	10.0
Expenditure					<0.001
>10000	21	1.8	21	1.8
6000–9999	196	16.3	135	11.8
3000–5999	434	36.1	467	40.8
2000–2999	410	34.1	345	30.1
<2000	140	11.7	178	15.5
Economic hardship					<0.001
More than enough	85	7.1	39	3.4
Enough	551	45.9	447	39.0
Just right	372	31.0	440	38.4
Insufficient	193	16.1	220	19.2
Occupation					<0.001
Professional	261	21.7	79	6.9
Workers	747	62.2	436	38.1
Elementary	185	15.4	466	40.7
Unemployed	8	0.7	165	14.4

BMI, body mass index; MCS, mental component score; PCS, physical component score.