Table 1.

Sociodemographic, health-related behaviours and outcome variables from the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) of Eurostat, included in the study (individual level).

Variables	Description in the European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) Database (Questions to Participants and Answers) and Categorisation for This Study
Age	Age of the person at the moment of interview Modes: the numerical value has been ranged into four classes (15–29; 30–44; 45–60; 60+)
Gender	Modes: “Male”, “Female”
Citizenship	What is your citizenship? Modes: “nationals”, “nationals of other EU Member States”, “nationals of non-EU countries”
Degree of urbanisation of the area of residence	Three modes based on a combination of geographical contiguity and population density, measured by minimum population thresholds applied to 1 km2 population grid cells: “densely-populated area”, “Intermediate area”, “thinly-populated area”
Legal marital status	What is your legal marital status? Modes: “never married”, “married”, “widows and not remarried” and “divorced and not remarried”
Education level	What is the highest education leaving certificate, diploma or education degree you have obtained? Seven modes summarised into three final modes following the International Standard Classification of Education: “Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education”, “Upper secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education”, “Tertiary education”
Employment status	How would you define your current labour status? Eight modes summarised into three final modes: “worker”, “not a worker”, “former worker”
Presence of chronic illnesses	Do you have any longstanding illness or (longstanding) health problem? Modes: “yes”, “no”
Body Mass Index (BMI)	How much are you weight without shoes and shoes? and How tall are you without shoes? BMI calculated as weight/height2, and then categorised into two categories: underweight/normal subject” (BMI ≤ 25 kg/m2) and “overweight/obese subject” (BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2)
Physical activity	During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do vigorous physical activities? During the last 7 days, on how many days did you do moderate physical activities? The answers to the two questions were combined in a dichotomous variable, with “Active” and “Inactive” modes. The “Active” mode included those who stated that they performed moderate physical activity at least 2/3 times a week or intense at least 1/2 times a week. The “Inactive” mode included those who stated that they performed moderate physical activity less than 2/3 times a week or intense less than 1/2 times a week
Smoking habits	Do you smoke at all nowadays? Modes: “regularly”, “occasionally”, “never”. Modes dicotomised as “Smoker” (both regular and occasional) and “Non-smoker”
Adherence to breast cancer screening	Have you ever had a mammography, which is an X-ray of one or both of your breasts? Modes: “yes”, “no” The women ≥50 years were selected. The women who declared they had adhered to the screening every two years have been included in the “Adherent” mode; the women who have declared that they have not performed screening or have performed it at intervals of more than two years have been included in “Non-adherent” mode.
Adherence to cervical smear screening	Have you ever had a cervical smear test? Modes: “yes”, “no” The women ≥ 25 years were selected. The women who declared they had adhered to the screening every two years have been included in the “Adherent” mode; the women who have declared that they have not performed screening or have performed it at intervals of more than two years have been included in “Non-adherent” mode.
Perceived Health Status	How is your health in general? Five modes: “very good”, “good”, “fair”, “bad”, and “very bad”. The final variable was dichotomous: “good” (very good, good) and “bad” (fair, bad, very bad).