Table 1:

Characteristics of respondents in the 2000/2001 cycle of the National Population Health Survey

Factor	% of respondents*
	History of depression n = 236	No history of depression n = 277	p value	All respondents with depression n = 585	Excluded cohort (no depression) n = 10 908	p value
Age, yr, mean (SD)	38.8 (1.2)	41.6 (1.1)	0.10	38.5 (0.8)	44.6 (0.1)	< 0.001
Sex (female)	77.4	57.5	< 0.001	64.5	51.4	< 0.001
Income (low; Low Income Cut-Off19)	25.1	12.9	0.007	18.5	9.8	< 0.001
Employment status (employed)	55.2	64.0	0.12	59.9	66.8	0.008
Any postsecondary education	67.3	64.0	0.52	63.6	63.6	0.99
Marital status			0.17			< 0.001
Single	35.2	28.7		36.5	25.4
Married, partner or common-law	38.3	48.6		40.6	60.2
Divorced, separated or widowed	26.5	22.8		22.9	14.4
Social support (Medical Outcomes Study social support scale19; out of 5), mean (SD)	3.7 (0.1)	4.1 (0.1)	0.006	3.9 (0.1)	4.5 (0.1)	< 0.001
Ethnic background (white)	93.0	91.7	0.69	91.7	89.9	0.39
Immigration status	11.6	9.0	0.44	9.1	17.5	< 0.001
Self-reported health scale (out of 5; higher score indicates better health), mean (SD)	3.0 (0.1)	3.2 (0.1)	0.08	3.1 (0.1)	3.7 (0.1)	< 0.001
Chronic health condition†	83.8	77.7	0.17	78.6	61.9	< 0.001
Chronic pain (reported as “not usually free of pain”)	38.3	27.9	0.08	29.9	12.2	< 0.001
Obese or overweight‡	55.1	49.8	0.36	50.8	52.4	0.60
Physical inactivity (Ontario Health Survey19)	38.2	42.2	0.51	43.9	44.3	0.88
Daily smoking	66.0	53.6	0.027	38.0	21.4	< 0.001
Sexually transmitted infection	2.2	6.7	0.06	4.1	2.0	0.024
Severity of symptoms scale (out of 24; Kessler K6 Psychological Distress Score19), mean (SD)	9.9 (0.5)	6.3 (0.4)	< 0.001	8.0 (0.3)	2.2 (0.1)	< 0.001
Duration of depression in the past year, weeks, mean (SD)	14.6 (1.4)	10.7 (0.9)	0.018	0.2 (0.1)	12.2 (0.8)	< 0.001
History of depression§	NA	NA		47.0	10.9	< 0.001
Frequent thoughts about death, self-reported	57.0	49.1	0.18	54.0	0.3	< 0.001
Heavy drinking¶	15.1	6.0	0.52	13.3	7.0	0.020
Self-reported antidepressant use in the past month	31.7	36.7	0.33	31.4	3.7	< 0.001
Self-reported body image			0.006			0.36
Overweight	51.2†	38.8		43.5	39.1
Just about right	7.5	3.1		4.7	4.7
Underweight	41.3	58.1		52.2	56.2
Self-esteem scale (out of 24; Rosenberg Scale),20 mean (SD)	7.2 (0.4)	5.3 (0.3)	< 0.001	6.4 (0.3)	4.4 (0.1)	< 0.001
Mastery scale (out of 28; Pearlin & Schooler21), mean (SD)	12.7 (0.4)	10.6 (0.4)	< 0.001	11.6 (0.3)	7.9 (0.1)	< 0.001
Childhood trauma††			0.18			< 0.001
0 events	23.4	30.4		29.0	51.9
1 events	24.2	28.0		26.2	26.6
≥ 2 events	52.1	41.7		44.8	21.5
High work stress‡‡	35.0	26.0	0.19	30.1	12.1	< 0.001
Stressful life events (≥ 1 of 10 negative events in previous year§§)	71.0	57.6	0.014	64.0	26.8	< 0.001
Self-perceived stress (out of 5; higher score indicates greater stress), mean (SD)	3.7 (0.1)	3.4 (0.1)	0.003	3.5 (0.1)	2.8 (0.1)	< 0.001
Chronic stress¶¶	26.1	41.6	0.005	33.2	6.8	< 0.001

Note: NA = not available, SD = standard deviation.

^*Unless stated otherwise

^†Presence of 1 of 22 common chronic conditions (complete list available from corresponding author).

^‡Body mass index > 25 for people ≥ 18 years. Cole cut-off points used for those aged 16–17 years.¹⁹

^§Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short Form assessment from previous three survey cycles.

^¶Men: > 15 drinks/wk; women: > 10 drinks/wk.

^††Childhood and Adult Stress Index¹⁹ — seven possible events.

^‡‡75th percentile or above of the National Population Health Survey Work Stress Index.²⁰

^§§A complete list is available from the authors.

^¶¶75th percentile or above of the General Chronic Stress Index.²⁰