Table 1.
Sociodemographic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics of the study population stratified by SM use for nutrition (n = 400)
| Variable | Total (n = 400) |
Do not use SM for nutrition (n = 139) |
Use SM for nutrition (n = 261) |
p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age (Years) | ||||
| ≤ 20 years | 137 (34.3%) | 47 (33.8%) | 90 (34.5%) | 0.893 |
| > 20 years | 263 (65.8%) | 92 (66.2%) | 171 (65.5%) | |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 81 (20.3%) | 36 (25.9%) | 45 (17.2%) | 0.040 |
| Female | 319 (79.8%) | 103 (74.1%) | 216 (82.8%) | |
| Self-Reported Body Mass Index (BMI) (kg/m 2 ) a | ||||
| Normal | 259 (64.8%) | 87 (62.6%) | 172 (65.9%) | 0.232 |
| Overweight | 83 (20.8%) | 35 (25.2%) | 48 (18.4%) | |
| Obese | 58 (14.5%) | 17 (12.2%) | 41 (15.7%) | |
| Trying to lose weight | ||||
| No | 142 (35.5%) | 60 (43.2%) | 82 (31.4%) | 0.019 |
| Yes | 258 (64.5%) | 79 (56.8%) | 179 (68.6%) | |
| Nationality | ||||
| Emirati | 236 (59%) | 73 (52.5%) | 163 (62.5%) | 0.054 |
| Other | 164 (41%) | 66 (47.5%) | 98 (37.5%) | |
| Place of residence | ||||
| The Emirate of Sharjah | 266 (66.5%) | 87 (62.6%) | 179 (68.6%) | 0.227 |
| Other Emirates | 134 (33.5%) | 52 (37.4%) | 82 (31.4%) | |
| Living with parents | ||||
| Yes | 378 (94.5%) | 130 (93.5%) | 248 (95%) | 0.533 |
| No | 22 (5.5%) | 9 (6.5%) | 13 (5%) | |
| Crowding index b | ||||
| ≤ 1 person per room | 126 (31.5%) | 38 (27.3%) | 88 (33.7%) | 0.191 |
| > 1 person per room | 274 (68.5%) | 101 (72.7%) | 173 (66.3%) | |
| University level | ||||
| First, second or third year | 217 (54.3%) | 74 (53.2%) | 143 (54.8%) | 0.767 |
| Fourth year and above | 183 (45.8%) | 65 (46.8%) | 118 (45.2%) | |
| Major at the university | ||||
| Health-related | 122 (30.5%) | 49 (35.3%) | 73 (28%) | 0.132 |
| Non-health related | 278 (69.5%) | 90 (64.7%) | 188 (72%) | |
| Presence of any chronic health condition | ||||
| No | 372 (93%) | 125 (89.9%) | 247 (94.6%) | 0.079 |
| Yes | 28 (7%) | 14 (10.1%) | 14 (5.4%) |
a The body mass index (BMI) was calculated as weight (kg)/height (m2), and classified accordingly into normal (18.5–24.9), overweight (25.0–29.9), and obese (> 30 kg/m2) [22]
b Crowding index was defined as the average number of people per room, excluding the kitchen and bathroom