Table 1. Sample characteristics (overall and by loneliness).
| Characteristic | Category | Overall | Loneliness | P-valuea | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | Yes | |||||||
| Number of physical diseases | 0 | 2,373 | 36.5 | 1,961 | 38.3 | 412 | 29.6 | <0.001 |
| 1 | 2,020 | 28.3 | 1,593 | 28.6 | 427 | 27.5 | ||
| 2 | 1,335 | 16.7 | 1,017 | 16.3 | 318 | 18.5 | ||
| 3 | 804 | 9.4 | 587 | 8.9 | 217 | 11.3 | ||
| 4 | 402 | 4.6 | 276 | 4.1 | 126 | 6.4 | ||
| ≥5 | 423 | 4.5 | 279 | 3.9 | 144 | 6.7 | ||
| Age (y) | 16–44 | 2,871 | 48.1 | 2,183 | 47.0 | 688 | 52.4 | <0.001 |
| 45–64 | 2,406 | 32.3 | 1,864 | 32.6 | 542 | 31.2 | ||
| ≥65 | 1,954 | 19.6 | 1,564 | 20.4 | 390 | 16.5 | ||
| Sex | Male | 3,176 | 48.6 | 2,544 | 50.1 | 632 | 42.8 | <0.001 |
| Female | 4,184 | 51.4 | 3,172 | 49.9 | 1,012 | 57.2 | ||
| Income | High | 1,972 | 35.9 | 1,623 | 37.4 | 349 | 29.5 | <0.001 |
| Middle | 1,932 | 32.6 | 1,512 | 32.9 | 420 | 31.5 | ||
| Low | 1,957 | 31.5 | 1,426 | 29.7 | 531 | 39.0 | ||
| Qualification | No | 2,103 | 23.9 | 1,570 | 23.3 | 533 | 26.1 | 0.041 |
| Yes | 5,225 | 76.1 | 4,123 | 76.7 | 1,102 | 73.9 | ||
| Ethnicity | British White | 6,478 | 85.2 | 5,053 | 85.5 | 1,425 | 84.1 | 0.285 |
| Other | 847 | 14.8 | 639 | 14.5 | 208 | 15.9 | ||
| Smoking | No | 2,481 | 34.7 | 1,971 | 35.3 | 510 | 32.2 | 0.339 |
| Yes | 4,879 | 65.3 | 3,745 | 64.7 | 1,134 | 67.8 | ||
| Alcohol dependence | No | 6,995 | 94.1 | 5,493 | 95.4 | 1,502 | 89.2 | <0.001 |
| Yes | 365 | 5.9 | 223 | 4.6 | 142 | 10.8 | ||
| Drug use | No | 6,813 | 90.7 | 5,369 | 92.3 | 1,444 | 84.7 | <0.001 |
| Yes | 534 | 9.3 | 340 | 7.7 | 194 | 15.3 | ||
| Disordered eating | No | 6,897 | 93.6 | 5,500 | 96.2 | 1,397 | 83.2 | <0.001 |
| Yes | 450 | 6.4 | 206 | 3.8 | 244 | 16.8 | ||
| Obesity class I (BMI≥35 kg/m2) | No | 6,617 | 94.6 | 5,163 | 95.0 | 1,454 | 93.0 | 0.009 |
| Yes | 388 | 5.4 | 280 | 5.0 | 108 | 7.0 | ||
| Stressful life events (≥16 years)b | Mean (SD) | 2.6 (2.0) | 2.5 (1.9) | 3.3 (2.5) | <0.001 | |||
| Stressful life events (<16 years)c | Mean (SD) | 0.5 (1.0) | 0.4 (0.9) | 0.8 (1.2) | <0.001 | |||
| Social supportd | Mean (SD) | 13.2 (1.9) | 13.4 (1.6) | 12.4 (2.8) | <0.001 | |||
| Depression | No | 7,109 | 97.0 | 5,651 | 99.0 | 1,458 | 89.3 | <0.001 |
| Yes | 251 | 3.0 | 65 | 1.0 | 186 | 10.7 | ||
| Anxiety | No | 6,828 | 93.3 | 5,537 | 97.0 | 1,291 | 78.7 | <0.001 |
| Yes | 532 | 6.7 | 179 | 3.0 | 353 | 21.3 | ||
Note: Boldface type indicates statistical significance (p<0.05).
Abbreviation: SD standard deviation; Data are unweighted N and weighted percentage or mean (SD).
a The differences in sample characteristics was tested by Chi-square tests and Student’s t-tests for categorical and continuous variables respectively.
b Based on 17 stressful life events occurring at the age of 16 or after.
c Based on 8 stressful life events occurring before the age of 16.
d Seven items were used to identify the level of social support with each item having scores of 0, 1, or 2. Scores of the 7 items were added to create a scale ranging from 0–14 with higher scores corresponding to higher levels of social support.