Table 3.
Association between respondents’ characteristics and overall knowledge score about lactose intolerance
| Total | Low knowledge | Intermediate knowledge | High knowledge | Univariable analysis | Multivariable analysis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | N (row %) | N (row %) | N (row %) | P-value† | OR (95% CI) | P-value‡ | OR (95% CI) | P-value‡ | |
| ALL | 2025 | 741 (36.6) | 653 (32.2) | 631 (31.2) | |||||
| Gender $ | |||||||||
| Male | 284 | 142 (50.0) | 78 (27.5) | 64 (22.5) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Female | 1730 | 595 (34.4) | 569 (32.9) | 566 (32.7) | < 0.0001 | 1.83 (1.44–2.32) | < 0.0001 | 1.49 (1.15–1.93) | 0.003 |
| Age | |||||||||
| 18–34 | 750 | 247 (32.9) | 229 (30.5) | 274 (36.5) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| 35–64 | 1185 | 457 (38.6) | 388 (32.7) | 340 (28.7) | 0.74 (0.62–0.88) | 0.0004 | 0.81 (0.64–1.01) | 0.066 | |
| 65+ | 90 | 37 (41.1) | 36 (40.0) | 17 (18.9) | 0.0004 | 0.58 (0.38–0.86) | 0.008 | 0.53 (0.28–1.01) | 0.054 |
| Italian region | |||||||||
| North-West | 801 | 385 (48.1) | 221 (27.6) | 195 (24.3) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| North-East | 280 | 64 (22.9) | 96 (34.3) | 120 (42.9) | 2.74 (2.12–3.53) | < 0.0001 | 1.64 (1.25–2.16) | 0.0004 | |
| Central | 481 | 124 (25.8) | 175 (36.4) | 182 (37.8) | 2.28 (1.85–2.82) | < 0.0001 | 1.26 (1.00-1.59) | 0.052 | |
| South | 320 | 113 (35.3) | 107 (33.4) | 100 (31.3) | 1.60 (1.26–2.03) | 0.0001 | 0.98 (0.75–1.27) | 0.88 | |
| Islands | 143 | 55 (38.5) | 54 (37.8) | 34 (23.8) | < 0.0001 | 1.27 (0.91–1.77) | 0.16 | 1.06 (0.75–1.50) | 0.76 |
| Education level | |||||||||
| High school or less | 685 | 319 (46.6) | 234 (34.2) | 132 (19.3) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Bachelor’s degree | 450 | 151 (33.6) | 135 (30.0) | 164 (36.4) | 1.97 (1.58–2.46) | < 0.0001 | 1.23 (0.96–1.58) | 0.11 | |
| Master’s degree | 698 | 214 (30.7) | 223 (31.9) | 261 (37.4) | 2.15 (1.76–2.61) | < 0.0001 | 1.36 (1.08–1.71) | 0.009 | |
| Post-graduate /PhD | 192 | 57 (29.7) | 61 (31.8) | 74 (38.5) | < 0.0001 | 2.25 (1.67–3.03) | < 0.0001 | 2.34 (1.69–3.25) | < 0.0001 |
| Employment status | |||||||||
| Student | 216 | 90 (41.7) | 67 (31.0) | 59 (27.3) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Employed | 1541 | 555 (36.0) | 479 (31.1) | 507 (32.9) | 1.30 (0.99–1.68) | 0.06 | 0.96 (0.70–1.33) | 0.81 | |
| Housewife | 96 | 32 (33.3) | 39 (40.6) | 25 (26.0) | 1.19 (0.76–1.85) | 0.45 | 1.22 (0.73–2.03) | 0.46 | |
| Retiree | 92 | 39 (42.4) | 38 (41.3) | 15 (16.3) | 0.80 (0.51–1.26) | 0.34 | 1.09 (0.55–2.17) | 0.80 | |
| Unemployed | 80 | 25 (31.3) | 30 (37.5) | 25 (31.3) | 0.01 | 1.38 (0.86–2.22) | 0.18 | 0.99 (0.59–1.66) | 0.97 |
| Marital status | |||||||||
| Married | 932 | 341 (36.6) | 312 (33.5) | 279 (29.9) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Widow(er) | 22 | 7 (31.8) | 10 (45.5) | 5 (22.7) | 0.96 (0.44–2.10) | 0.93 | 1.23 (0.52–2.91) | 0.63 | |
| Divorced | 121 | 57 (47.1) | 32 (26.4) | 32 (26.4) | 0.72 (0.50–1.02) | 0.06 | 0.78 (0.54–1.14) | 0.20 | |
| Single | 950 | 336 (35.4) | 299 (31.5) | 315 (33.2) | 0.11 | 1.10 (0.93–1.30) | 0.24 | 0.93 (0.75–1.15) | 0.49 |
| Lactose intolerance | |||||||||
| No | 913 | 378 (41.4) | 244 (26.7) | 291 (31.9) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Suspected | 401 | 174 (43.4) | 132 (32.9) | 95 (23.7) | 0.81 (0.65-1.00) | 0.050 | 1.60 (1.25–2.05) | 0.0002 | |
| Confirmed | 711 | 189 (26.6) | 277 (39.0) | 245 (34.5) | < 0.0001 | 1.48 (1.24–1.77) | < 0.0001 | 4.08 (3.24–5.14) | < 0.0001 |
| Nutrition expert | |||||||||
| No° | 1558 | 704 (45.2) | 518 (33.2) | 336 (21.6) | 1.00 | 1.00 | |||
| Yes | 467 | 37 ( 7.9) | 135 (28.9) | 295 (63.2) | < 0.0001 | 6.82 (5.50–8.45) | < 0.0001 | 10.8 (8.30–14.2) | < 0.0001 |
$11 responders preferred not to specify their gender
°Include 550 respondents interested in nutrition topics
Odds Ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) obtained from univariable and multivariable ordinal logistic regression with all variables fitted simultaneously
† P-value based on Chi-square test ‡ P-value based on Wald test from ordinal logistic regression
Abbreviations. LI: Lactose intolerance; L: Lactose; S: Symptom(s)
Percentages under 10% are not reported in the graphic
Total knowledge score can range from − 39 to + 39
P-values based on Student’s t-test
Statistically significant values are expressed in bold