Table 2.

Characteristics of participants: random sample of patients (n 358) from a regional primary-care clinic in the district of Seremban, Malaysia, November 2017–June 2018

Characteristic	Participants with food addiction (n 18)		Participants without food addiction (n 340)		P value
	n or Mean	% or sd	n or Mean	% or sd
Gender
Male	4	22·2	111	32·7	0·35**
Female	14	77·8	228	67·3
Age (years), mean and sd	29·78	10·75	32·51	12·86	0·38††
Age category*
<35 years	14	77·8	237	69·7	0·39‡‡
35–54 years	4	22·2	68	20·0
55–74 years	0	0·0	30	8·8
≥75 years	0	0·0	2	0·6
BMI (kg/m2), mean and sd	29·88	5·90	25·56	4·56	0·004††
BMI category†
Underweight (<18·5 kg/m2)	0	0·0	24	7·4	0·002‡‡
Normal (18·5–22·9 kg/m2)	1	5·8	101	31·1
Overweight (23·0–24·9 kg/m2)	2	11·8	45	13·8
Pre-obese (25·0–29·9 kg/m2)	6	35·3	87	26·8
Obese (≤30·0 kg/m2)	8	47·1	68	20·9
Ethnicity‡
Malay	8	44·4	185	54·7	0·35‡‡
Chinese	2	11·1	42	12·4
Indian	8	44·4	108	32·0
Others	0	0·0	3	0·9
Marital status§
Unmarried	10	55·6	175	51·8	0·70‡‡
Married	8	44·4	156	46·2
Divorced	0	0·0	3	0·9
Widow/widower	0	0·0	4	1·1
Work status‖
Not working	7	41·2	141	42·2	0·36‡‡
Working full-time	9	52·9	164	49·1
Working part-time	1	5·9	7	2·1
Self-employed	0	0·0	22	6·6
Level of education¶
Certificate level	6	37·4	81	25·6	0·41‡‡
Diploma	5	31·3	105	33·1
Bachelor’s degree	5	31·3	114	36·0
Master’s degree	0	0·0	15	4·7
PhD	0	0·0	2	0·6
Co-morbidities
Hypertension	3	50·0	33	45·2	–
Dyslipidaemia	0	0·0	5	6·9
Diabetes mellitus	3	50·0	23	31·5
Bronchial asthma	0	0·0	7	9·6
Rheumatoid arthritis	0	0·0	2	2·7
Hypothyroidism	0	0·0	2	2·7
Glaucoma	0	0·0	1	1·4

Data presented are n and% unless indicated otherwise.

^*Missing, n 3.

^†Missing, n 15.

^‡Missing, n 2.

^§Missing, n 2.

^‖Missing, n 7.

^¶Missing, n 25.

^**χ² test.

^††Independent t test.

^‡‡Mann–Whitney U test.