Table 1.

Characteristics of subjects with and without depressive symptoms (Numbers and percentages; mean values and standard deviations)

	Subjects without depressive symptoms (CES-D<16)		Subjects without depressive symptoms (CES-D≥16)
Variables	n	%	n	%	P *
Number of subjects	1857		266
Sex (male)	933	50·2	117	44·0	0·056
Age (years)					0·122
Mean	60·1		61·4
sd	12·3		12·8
BMI (kg/m2)					0·071
Mean	22·9		22·5
sd	3·0		3·2
CES-D					<0·001
Mean	5·3		21·9
sd	4·4		6·2
Education level
≤9 years	329	17·7	58	21·8	0·038
10–12 years	738	39·7	116	43·6
≥13 years	790	42·5	92	34·6
Unmarried	254	13·7	72	27·1	<0·001
Current smoker	262	14·1	45	16·9	0·223
Alcohol consumption† (ml/d)					0·842
Mean	0·37		0·35
sd	2·61		1·96
Physical activity (steps/d)					0·274
Mean	8746		8500
sd	3417		3439
Employment
Unemployed or household labour	766	41·3	123	46·2	0·207
Non-regular employment	385	20·7	56	21·1
Regular employment	706	38·0	87	32·7
Medical history‡
Stroke	53	2·9	16	6·0	0·007
Hypertension	513	27·6	82	30·8	0·277
Ischaemic heart disease	74	4·0	13	4·9	0·488
Hyperlipidaemia	349	18·8	59	22·2	0·190
Diabetes mellitus	134	7·2	21	7·9	0·691

CES-D, Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale.

^*Continuous variables: Student’s t test, Categorical variables: χ ² test.

^†Converting alcohol consumption into ethanol content.

^‡Past and present illness.