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. 2017 Apr 4;7(4):e012927. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012927

Table 2.

Comparison of demographic, anthropometric, lifestyle and occupational characteristics of under-reporters and plausible reporters of energy intake across men and women in the Airwave Health Monitoring Study

Men
 Women
Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
 Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
Mean SD Mean SD p Value* Mean SD Mean SD p Value*
Age at screening, years 42.7 9.2 42.1 8.6 0.057 40.3 9.5 39.2 9.4 0.034
Basal metabolic rate (BMR), kcal day-1 1863 152 1940 157 <0.0001 1415 112 1454 138 <0.0001
Daily energy intake (EI), kcal 2497 430 1800 300 <0.0001 1942 314 1380 227 <0.0001
n % n % p∼ n % n % p∼
Ethnicity (n 4075)   0.338 0.295
Caucasian 1072 95 1343 94 861 97 589 95
Non-Caucasian 61 5 90 6 31 3 28 5
Food diary completion   0.572 0.704
No, <7 days completed 132 11 157 12 100 11 73 12
Yes, 7 days completed 1001 89 1278 88 793 89 544 88
Body mass index  
Healthy (<25kg/m2) 342 30 217 15 <0.0001 508 57 277 45 <0.0001
Overweight (25—30kg/m2) 634 56 809 56 282 32 230 37
Obese (>30kg/m2) 157 14 409 29 103 11 110 18
Level of education (n 4077)   0.091 0.058
Left school before taking O levels 41 4 73 5 24 3 23 4
GCSE/O-Level/CSE’ then education 329 29 448 31 244 27 188 30
Vocational qualifications 82 7 101 7 60 7 54 9
A levels / higher or equivalent 359 32 464 32 292 33 201 33
Bachelor degree or equivalent 255 23 264 18 205 23 121 20
Postgraduate qualifications 67 6 84 6 68 8 30 5
Men
 Women
Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
 Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
n % n % p Value † n % n % p Value †
Physical activity level (METs category)   <0.0001 <0.0001
Low 183 16 95 7 164 18 51 8
Moderate 544 48 598 42 462 52 282 46
High 406 36 742 51 267 30 284 46
Smoking status (n 4066)   0.891 0.071
Never 791 70 1004 70 630 71 413 67
Former 262 23 324 23 188 21 131 21
Current 76 7 102 7 74 8 71 12
Annual household income (n 4077)   0.122 0.879 
<£32 000 106 9 120 8 244 27 165 27
£32 000—£47 999 140 12 152 11 93 10 59 10
£48 000—£57 999 510 45 615 43 273 30 200 33
£58 000—£77 999 265 23 388 27 182 20 130 21
>£78 000 112 10 159 11 101 11 65 10
Marital status (n 3944)   0.259 0.002
Cohabiting 154 14 218 15 150 18 151 25
Divorced 36 3 53 4 78 9 35 6
Married 811 72 1009 71 452 53 287 48
Separated 37 3 30 2 20 2 17 3
Single 80 7 108 8 161 18 106 18
Shift work status (n 536)   0.222 0.121
No 57 34 78 42 66 60 35 49
Yes 111 66 108 58 45 40 36 51
Men
 Women
Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
 Plausible reporters
 Under-reporters
n % n % p Value † n % n % p Value †
Police employment rank (n 3626)   0.043 0.760
Police staff 222 22 232 18 436 56 297 54
Police constable/sergeant 685 67 904 70 317 41 237 43
Inspector/chief inspector 93 9 126 10 23 3 15 3
Superintendent or above 14 1 31 2 3 0 1 0
Characteristics of job role (n 2875)   0.393 0.425
Mainly office-based duties 458 42 337 40 212 55 312 58
Mainly mobile duties 635 58 506 60 171 45 226 42
Working hours per week   0.129 0.120
<41 hours per week 420 37 504 35 586 66 381 62
41 to 48 hour per week 444 39 539 38 215 24 150 24
49 to 54 hours per week 138 12 187 13 47 5 38 6
55 or more hours per week 129 11 205 14 45 5 48 8
Quartile (Q) of hours sitting per weekday   <0.0001 0.638
Q1 <4 hours per day 234 21 324 23 210 24 155 25
Q2 <4 <6 hours per day 295 26 420 29 254 28 160 26
Q3 ≥6 <10 hours per day 243 21 353 24 229 26 154 25
Q4 ≥10 ≤13 hours per day 361 32 338 24 200 23 148 24
Coder mean error rate (n 4236)‡   0.007 0.146
Below average (<3.7% errors) 805 75 971 70 662 77 438 74
Above average (≥3.7% errors) 267 25 413 30 193 23 153 26

GCSE, General Certificate of Secondary Education; CSE, Certificate of Secondary Education; METs, Metabolic equivalents.

*Student's t-test compared mean values between continuous parametric variables.

†χ2 test compared the differences between categorical variables. Sample size =4078 unless otherwise stated, due to incomplete data collection for some variables.

‡not all coders were selected via the random quality check.