Table 3.

List of baseline and comparison explanatory variables, and the scale items included in each

Scale item short name		Baseline variable label	Baseline variable response levels	Comparison variable label	Comparison variable response levels
1.	Relation	Male	1,3,5,7	Female	2,4,6,8
				Other	9,10,11
2.	Age	less than 70	-	70–79	-
				80–89	-
				90+	-
3.	Marital	Married, divorced, widowed	1,3,5	Common-law, single	2,6
				Separated	4
4.	Birthplace	In Canada	1	Outside Canada	2
5.	Language	English	-	French	-
				Other	-
6.	Housing	Private, institution, other	1,3,4	Supportive	2
7.	Proximity	Same house/same building	1,2	Less than 1 h away	3,4,5
				1 h or more away	6,7
8.	Paid care	Daily	1	2–3 times per week	2,3
				Less than weekly	4,5,6,7
9.	Primary	Yes/Unknown	1,3	No	2
10.	AD	Yes	1	No	2
11.	Dementia	Yes	1	No	2
12.	Duration	Less than 1 year	1	1–6 years	2,3
				6+ years	4,5
				N/Aa	6
13.	Independence	Not dependent at all	1	Slightly dependent	2,3,4,5
				Dependent	6,7,8,9
				Very dependent	10,11

^aNote: N/A includes “Not Sure” responses from questions 10 and 11 (clinical diagnoses of AD or dementia)