Table 1.
Baseline sociodemographic characteristics of the study population according to trajectories of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (n = 2583).
| Mediterranean Diet Trajectories | p-Value * | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low–Low (n = 687) |
Low–High (n = 233) |
High–Low (n = 1179) |
High–High (n = 484) |
||
| Age, years | 55.5 ± 13.5 a | 54.7 ± 10.7 a | 43.2 ± 12.0 b | 35.2 ± 10.0 c | <0.001 |
| Age group, n (%) | |||||
| <35 years 35–65 years >65 years |
49 (7.1) a 442 (64.3) a 196 (28.5) a |
4 (1.7) b 187 (80.3) b 42 (18.0) b |
284 (24.1) c 842 (71.4) c 53 (4.5) c |
240 (49.6) d 243 (50.2) d 1 (0.2) d |
<0.001 |
| Males, n (%) | 500 (72.8) a | 190 (81.5) b | 524 (44.4) c | 76 (15.7) d | <0.001 |
| Marital status, n (%) | |||||
| never married married divorced widowed |
64 (9.3) a 560 (81.6) a 25 (3.6) 38 (5.5) a |
13 (5.6) a 208 (89.3) a 4 (1.7) 8 (3.4) a,b |
257 (21.8) b 839 (71.2) b 47 (4.9) 36 (3.1) b |
206 (42.6) c 260 (53.7) c 14 (2.9) 4 (0.8) c |
<0.001 |
| Education, years | 11.0 ± 4.0 a | 11.6 ± 3.9 a | 12.3 ± 3.6 b | 13.3 ± 3.0 c | <0.001 |
| Educational level, n (%) | |||||
| low medium high |
202 (29.4) a 301 (43.8) 184 (26.8) a |
58 (24.9) a 103 (44.2) 72 (30.9) a,b |
190 (16.1) b 572 (48.5) 417 (35.4) b |
32 (6.6) c 229 (47.4) 223 (46.0) c |
<0.001 |
| Financial status, n (%) | |||||
| low medium high very high |
113 (16.4) a 226 (32.9) 281 (40.9) a 67 (9.8) a |
17 (7.6) b 67 (28.7) 104 (44.6) a 45 (19.1) b |
258 (21.9) a,c 380 (32.2) 403 (34.2) a,b 138 (11.7) a,b |
136 (28.1) c 184 (38.0) 125 (25.8) b 39 (8.1) a |
<0.001 |
| SES, n (%) | |||||
| low medium high |
165 (24.0) a 345 (50.2) 177 (25.8) a |
44 (19.1) a,b 113 (48.4) 76 (32.5) a,b |
157 (13.3) b 641 (54.4) 381 (32.3) a,b |
28 (5.8) c 266 (54.9) 190 (39.3) b |
<0.001 |
Data are presented as absolute (relative) frequency for categorical variables and mean ± standard deviation for normally distributed numerical variables. * p-values for comparisons between Mediterranean diet trajectories, as derived from the Pearson’s chi-squared test for categorical variables, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) for normally distributed numerical variables or the Kruskal–Wallis signed rank-test for skewed numerical variables. a–d Different superscripts indicate significant between-group differences (p-value < 0.050) according to post hoc pairwise comparisons adjusted by the Bonferroni correction for multiple tests. SES, socioeconomic status.