Table 1.
Demographic Characteristics of the Healthy, Older Free-Living Study Population, by Gender
| Characteristic | Males | Females | p value* |
|---|---|---|---|
| number (%) | number (%) | ||
| Age group | |||
| 51−70 years | 976 (78.6) | 409 (82.1) | 0.097 |
| 71−85 years | 266 (21.4) | 89 (17.9) | |
| Marital status | |||
| Single, never married | 27 (2.2) | 19 (3.8) | 0.001 |
| Married | 1103 (88.8) | 321 (64.5) | |
| Widowed | 45 (3.6) | 104 (20.9) | |
| Divorced/separated | 67 (5.4) | 54 (10.8) | |
| Education | |||
| Less than high school | 92 (7.4) | 33 (6.6) | 0.009 |
| High school graduate | 2105 (16.5) | 110 (22.1) | |
| Some post-high school | 412 (33.2) | 182 (36.6) | |
| College graduate | 245 (19.7) | 80 (16.1) | |
| Graduate school | 288 (23.2) | 93 (18.7) | |
| How often do you engage in physical exercise? | |||
| Often | 357 (28.7) | 153 (30.7) | 0.292 |
| Sometimes | 492 (39.6) | 210 (42.2) | |
| Never | 387 (31.2) | 1382 (26.5) | |
| No response | 6 (0.5) | 3 (0.6) | |
| How often do you engage in active sports? | |||
| Often | 91 (7.3) | 15 (3.0) | 0.001 |
| Sometimes | 141 (11.4) | 31 (6.2) | |
| Never | 1000 (80.5) | 446 (89.6) | |
| No response | 10 (0.8) | 6 (1.2) | |
| Smoking status | |||
| Current smoker | 134 (10.8) | 55 (11.0) | 0.001 |
| Former smoker | 690 (55.6) | 182 (36.6) | |
| Never smoker | 418 (33.7) | 261 (52.4) | |
| Do you take vitamin or mineral supplements? | |||
| Yes, daily | 536 (43.2) | 290 (58.2) | 0.001 |
| Yes, sometimes | 327 (26.3) | 118 (23.7) | |
| No, never | 379 (30.5) | 90 (18.1) | |
| Mean BMI kg/m2 (SEM) | 25.7 (0.1) | 24.8 (0.2) | 0.0002 |
*
The Chi square test was used to determine gender differences in categorical distribution of characteristics, the Student's t test was used to determine gender differences in mean values.