Characteristics of participants of the Nova Scotia Nutrition Survey
| Characteristic | Included (n=1816) | Excluded (no linkable identifiers) (n=82) | p value* | Excluded (income missing) (n=300) | p value† |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SD, standard deviation; IQ, range: interquartile range. | |||||
| *Probability that participants excluded because no linkage could be established do not differ from included participants. | |||||
| †Probability that participants excluded because of missing income do not differ from included participants. | |||||
| ‡Where the cell count <5, we apply Fisher’s exact test. | |||||
| Mean age in years (SD) | 49.2 (15.3) | 34.8 (15.5) | <0.01 | 50.5 (17.4) | 0.25 |
| Sex (%) | |||||
| Female | 909 (50.1) | 44 (53.7) | 0.52 | 186 (62.0) | <0.01 |
| Male | 907 (49.9) | 38 (46.3) | 114 (38.0) | ||
| Smoker (%) | 571 (31.4) | 26 (31.7) | 0.96 | 77 (25.7) | 0.04 |
| Body mass index (%) | |||||
| <20 | 83 (4.6) | 10 (12.2) | <0.01 | 15 (5.0) | 0.18 |
| 20 to <27 | 903 (49.7) | 52 (63.4) | 132 (44.0) | ||
| ⩾27 | 830 (45.7) | 20 (24.4) | 153 (51.0) | ||
| Diabetic (%) | 148 (8.2) | 1 (1.2) | 0.02‡ | 32 (10.7) | 0.15 |
| Household income (%) | |||||
| <$20000 | 571 (31.4) | 18 (22.0) | |||
| $20000 to <$40000 | 713 (39.3) | 24 (29.3) | |||
| ⩾$40000 | 532 (29.3) | 28 (34.2) | |||
| Missing | 12 (14.6) | 300 (100.0) | |||
| Education (%) | |||||
| Less than high school | 786 (43.3) | 23 (28.1) | <0.01 | 157 (52.3) | <0.01 |
| High school, trade/vocational training | 526 (29.0) | 19 (23.2) | 81 (27.0) | ||
| College/university | 504 (27.8) | 40 (48.8) | 62 (20.7) | ||
| Family physician services | |||||
| Median annual services (IQ range) | 4.75 (6.38) | – | 5.07 (5.25) | 0.19 | |
| Specialist physician services | |||||
| Median annual services (IQ range) | 1.25 (3.50) | – | 1.25 (3.63) | 0.99 | |
| Hospital services – any use (%) | 1146 (63.1) | – | 178 (59.3) | 0.21 | |
| Deaths (%) | 149 (8.2) | – | 31 (10.3) | 0.22 | |