Table 2.

Participant characteristics of symptom survey sample and UK demographics

	na	Symptom survey sample, %	UK demographics, %
Sex
Male	990	40.2	49.9b,c
Female	1471	59.8	50.1b,c
Age group, years
18–24	203	8.2	16.5b,c
25–34	393	16.0	22.2b,c
35–44	631	25.6	25.8b,c
45–54	686	27.9	23.0b,c
55–60	548	22.3	12.5b,c
Marital status
Single	413	17.0	42.8b,c
Married/living together	1798	73.8	46.2b,c
No longer married	224	9.2	11.0b,c
Social support
Low	126	5.3	–
Medium	769	32.4	–
High	1480	62.3	–
Number of children
0	736	30.2	–
1	371	15.2	–
2	869	35.7	–
≥3	461	18.9	–
Educational status
No formal qualifications	257	10.7	–
Secondary school or equivalent	1066	44.5	–
Higher education	1072	44.8	–
Housing tenure
Owned/mortgaged	2024	83.4	68.4c
Council/housing association rented	164	6.8	16.8c
Privately rented and other	240	9.9	14.8c
Employment status
Full time	1280	52.9	49.7c
Part time	447	18.5	15.9c
Self-employed	217	9.0	8.6c
Cannot work due to illness	102	4.2	21.4c economically
Others not in paid work	372	15.4	inactive
Household income, £
<15 000	287	13.0	∼20.0c,d
15 000–29 999	566	25.7	∼30.0c,d
30 000–49 999	700	31.8	∼40.0c,d
≥50 000	651	29.5	∼10.0c,d
Ethnic group
White	2345	97.4	92.1c
Other	63	2.6	7.9c
Smoking status
Never smoked	1334	55.4	53.0e
Ex-smoker	615	25.5	25.0e
Current smoker	461	19.1	21.0e
Chronic condition
Yes	1098	45.4	29.0e,f
No	1323	54.6	71.0e

^aTotal numbers for each group may not add up to full sample due to missing data in participant characteristics categories.

^bWorking age population specifically (18–60 years).

^cOffice for National Statistics data (http://www.statistics.gov.uk), accessed April 2010.

^dAverage gross income by decile groups of non-retired households.

^eGeneral Lifestyle Survey, 2008.16

^fProportion of persons aged 16–64 years who reported a longstanding illness – comparable data not available.