Table 2.
Demographic characteristics, socio-economic status, health status, and lifestyle, according to geographical areas of residence.
| Sample characteristics | Northwest | Northeast | Center | South | Islands | p value* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 1,366 | n = 701 | n = 978 | n = 451 | n = 236 | ||
| Sex | 0.060 | |||||
| Female | 1,174 (85.94) | 620 (88.45) | 867 (88.65) | 395 (87.58) | 217 (91.95) | |
| Male | 192 (14.06) | 81 (11.55) | 111 (11.35) | 56 (12.42) | 19 (8.05) | |
| Age groups | < 0.001 | |||||
| 17–40 years | 1,001 (73.28) | 540 (77.03) | 560 (57.26) | 368 (81.60) | 191 (80.93) | |
| >40 years | 365 (26.72) | 161 (22.97) | 418 (42.74) | 83 (18.40) | 45 (19.07) | |
| Education | < 0.001 | |||||
| ≤13 years | 582 (42.61) | 316 (45.08) | 307 (31.39) | 187 (41.46) | 104 (44.07) | |
| >13 years | 784 (57.39) | 385 (54.92) | 671 (68.61) | 264 (58.54) | 132 (55.93) | |
| Annual income | < 0.001 | |||||
| <EUR 15.000 | 229 (21.64) | 179 (34.03) | 181 (23.36) | 139 (41.87) | 85 (44.97) | |
| EUR 15.000–30.000 | 411 (38.85) | 221 (42.02) | 282 (36.25) | 117 (35.24) | 68 (35.98) | |
| EUR 30.000–50.000 | 277 (26.18) | 88 (16.73) | 251 (32.26) | 57 (17.17) | 23 (12.17) | |
| >EUR 50.000 | 141 (13.33) | 38 (7.22) | 64 (8.23) | 19 (5.72) | 13 (6.88) | |
| missing | 308 | 175 | 200 | 119 | 47 | |
| Occupation | < 0.001 | |||||
| Non-workers/Students | 255 (18.67) | 194 (27.67) | 202 (20.65) | 162 (35.92) | 79 (33.47) | |
| Unemployed | 42 (3.07) | 24 (3.42) | 43 (4.40) | 37 (8.20) | 27 (11.44) | |
| Part-time workers | 193 (14.13) | 115 (16.41) | 121 (12.37) | 72 (15.96) | 36 (15.25) | |
| Full-time workers | 876 (64.13) | 368 (52.50) | 612 (62.58) | 180 (39.91) | 94 (39.83) | |
| Family size | < 0.001 | |||||
| 1 person | 220 (16.11) | 107 (15.26) | 119 (12.17) | 37 (8.20) | 23 (9.75) | |
| 2 people | 385 (28.18) | 161 (22.97) | 257 (26.28) | 82 (18.18) | 49 (20.76) | |
| 3 people | 308 (22.55) | 161 (22.97) | 257 (26.28) | 104 (23.06) | 54 (22.88) | |
| 4 people | 333 (24.38) | 190 (27.10) | 251 (25.66) | 147 (32.59) | 67 (28.39) | |
| 5 or more people | 120 (8.78) | 82 (11.70) | 94 (9.61) | 81 (17.96) | 43 (18.22) | |
| Health conditions | 0.109 | |||||
| None | 1,291 (94.51) | 669 (95.44) | 901 (92.13) | 426 (94.46) | 229 (97.03) | |
| Cardiometabolic diseases | 56 (4.10) | 21 (3.00) | 56 (5.73) | 21 (4.66) | 6 (2.54) | |
| Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease | 3 (0.22) | 1 (0.14) | 5 (0.51) | 0.00 | 0.00 | |
| Cancer | 16 (1.17) | 10 (1.43) | 16 (1.64) | 4 (0.89) | 1 (0.42) | |
| Adherence to special diet | 0.563 | |||||
| None | 1,134 (83.02) | 573 (81.74) | 814 (83.23) | 370 (82.04) | 194 (82.20) | |
| Celiac disease | 34 (2.49) | 16 (2.28) | 18 (1.84) | 7 (1.55) | 7 (2.97) | |
| Food allergy | 33 (2.42) | 7 (1.00) | 18 (1.84) | 10 (2.22) | 5 (2.12) | |
| Lactose intolerance | 97 (7.10) | 59 (8.42) | 83 (8.49) | 45 (9.98) | 21 (8.90) | |
| Vegans/vegetarians | 64 (4.69) | 44 (6.28) | 43 (4.40) | 19 (4.21) | 8 (3.39) | |
| Religion reasons | 4 (0.29) | 2 (0.29) | 2 (0.20) | 0.00 | 1 (0.42) | |
| Physical activity | 0.183 | |||||
| < 2.5 h/week | 635 (46.49) | 305 (43.51) | 476 (48.67) | 225 (49.89) | 109 (46.19) | |
| ≥ 2.5 h/week | 731 (53.51) | 396 (56.49) | 502 (51.33) | 226 (50.11) | 127 (53.81) |
Data are expressed as absolute frequencies and percentages (%), calculated on the total of subjects excluding missing data. *Chi-square test.