Table 2.
Distribution of baseline characteristics among men and women according to their perceived loneliness status (N = 512)
| Men N = 240 |
Women N = 272 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonely N = 41 |
Not lonely N = 199 |
p-value | Lonely N = 84 |
Not lonely N = 188 |
p-value | |
| Current perceived economic situation | ||||||
| Good | 47.5 (19) | 77.7 (150) | 48.8 (39) | 72.2 (132) | ||
| Average | 27.5 (11) | 15.6 (30) | 38.8 (31) | 17.8 (32) | ||
| Poor | 25.0 (10) | 6.7 (13) | 0.000 | 12.5 (10) | 10.0 (18) | 0.001 |
| Living alone | 52.5 (21) | 9.1 (18) | 0.000 | 60.8 (48) | 39.2 (71) | 0.001 |
| Smoking status: | ||||||
| Never smoker | 22.0 (9) | 33.3 (66) | 51.2 (42) | 62.5 (115) | ||
| Previous smoker | 53.6 (22) | 53.5 (106) | 25.6 (21) | 23.9 (44) | ||
| Current smoker | 24.4 (10) | 13.2 (26) | 0.119 | 23.2 (19) | 13.6 (25) | 0.109 |
| Physical activity: | ||||||
| Regular | 38.5 (15) | 64.4 (125) | 32.5 (25) | 35.8 (63) | ||
| Inactive | 61.5 (24) | 35.6 (69) | 0.003 | 67.5 (52) | 64.2 (113) | 0.609 |
| BMI | 27.13 ± 3.49 | 26.88 ± 3.95 | 0.704 | 26.63 ± 4.04 | 27.22 ± 4.69 | 0.330 |
| Alcohol (gm/per week) | 51.18 ± 64.61 | 76.29 ± 108.27 | 0.071 | 25.69 ± 31.14 | 34.03 ± 52.14 | 0.228 |
| Health related variables: | ||||||
| SBP (mm Hg) | 151.97 ± 22.46 | 157.71 ± 20.40 | 0.146 | 151.43 ± 23.85 | 153.70 ± 22.07 | 0.504 |
| DBP (mm Hg) | 84.76 ± 8.94 | 87.81 ± 9.95 | 0.103 | 85.40 ± 11.85 | 84.36 ± 10.47 | 0.517 |
| Triglyceride (mmol/l) | 1.30 + 0.54 | 1.39 ± 0.57 | 0.386 | 1.40 ± 0.56 | 1.41 ± 0.85 | 0.995 |
| Diabetes | 12.2 (5) | 11.2 (22) | 0.850 | 11.5 (9) | 9.0 (16) | 0.536 |
| CHD | 17.1 (7) | 10.7 (21) | 0.246 | 5.0 (4) | 5.5 (10) | 0.877 |
| Stroke | 2.4 (1) | 5.1 (10) | – | 9.8 (8) | 7.0 (13) | 0.445 |
| Cancer | 12.2 (5) | 15.3 (30) | 0.610 | 18.2 (14) | 12.6 (22) | 0.248 |
| Chronic bronchitis | 19.5 (8) | 13.2 (26) | 0.293 | 25.6 (20) | 15.2 (27) | 0.046 |
| Arthritis | 17.1 (7) | 17.3 (34) | 0.966 | 34.6 (27) | 31.8 (56) | 0.661 |
| ADL disability | 17.9 (7) | 9.2 (17) | 0.108 | 14.9 (11) | 10.6 (18) | 0.343 |
| Depression: | ||||||
| No | 68.4 (26) | 95.7 (180) | 61.3 (49) | 92.8 (168) | ||
| Minor | 21.1 (8) | 4.3 (8) | 25.0 (20) | 5.5 (10) | ||
| Major | 10.5 (4) | 0 | 0.000 | 13.8 (11) | 1.7 (3) | 0.000 |
Values presented in this table are mean ± SD or percentage with number of subjects in parenthesis
BMI Body mass index (wt in kg/ht. in m2), SBP Systolic blood pressure, DBP Diastolic blood pressure, CHD Coronary heart disease