Table 1.

Smoker characteristics by brand variant type at baseline, January 2006 (n = 632), Ontario, Canada.

	All brand type respondents (n = 632)	Regular (n = 189)	Light (n = 443)	P
Gender, %
Female	349	30.9	69.1
Male	283	28.6	71.4	0.526c
Age, mean (SD), years	628	44.6 (15.9)	42.3 (14.4)	0.075d
Education, %
High school degree or less	305	36.7	63.3
At least some college	321	23.4	76.6	<0.0001c
Employment statusa, %
Employed	288	24.7	75.4	0.006c
Unemployed	150	37.3	62.7
Purchase location, %
Convenience store	319	24.8	75.2
Gas station	116	27.6	72.4	0.002c
Native reserve	90	44.4	55.6
Other (e.g. supermarket, discount store)	96	34.4	65.6
Heaviness of smoking index, %
0–2	256	24.6	75.4
3–4	211	33.6	66.4	<0.001e
5–6	86	45.4	54.6
Perceived healthb, %
Excellent/very good	296	29.1	70.9
Good	224	29.9	70.1	0.338e
Fair/poor	111	32.4	67.6

^aEmployed includes respondents reporting full-time, part-time or self-employment. Unemployed includes: unemployed, student, retired, homemaker, or on disability.

^bPerceived health was an ordinal variable assessed through self-report of general health on a five-item scale.

^cChi-square test.

^dStudent’s t-test.

^eKruskal–Wallis test.