Table 1 Baseline characteristics of the study cohort from CHARLS stratified by sex
Characteristic | Total (n = 5196) | Male (n = 2788) | Female (n = 2408) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Age, years | 56.3 (7.7) | 57.4 (7.8) | 55.1 (7.4) | < 0.001 |
Rural, n (%) | 4011 (77.2) | 2228 (79.9) | 1783 (74.0) | < 0.001 |
Married, n (%) | 4847 (93.3) | 2637 (94.6) | 2210 (91.8) | < 0.001 |
Educational level, n (%) | < 0.001 | |||
  < Primary school | 1404 (27.0) | 507 (18.2) | 897 (37.3) |  |
 Primary school | 1366 (26.3) | 775 (27.8) | 591 (24.5) |  |
 Middle school | 1553 (29.9) | 932 (33.4) | 621 (25.8) |  |
  ≥ High school | 873 (16.8) | 574 (20.6) | 299 (12.4) |  |
Household income, n (%)a |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Low | 1588 (30.6) | 789 (28.3) | 799 (33.2) |  |
 Medium | 1611 (31.0) | 878 (31.5) | 733 (30.4) |  |
 High | 1652 (31.8) | 983 (35.3) | 669 (27.8) |  |
Smoker, n (%) | 2219 (42.7) | 2046 (73.4) | 173 (7.2) | < 0.001 |
Drinker, n (%) | 2335 (44.9) | 1950 (69.9) | 385 (16.0) | < 0.001 |
Cognition scores | 15.5 (4.4) | 15.7 (4.2) | 15.2 (4.5) | < 0.001 |
Depression scores | 9.5 (4.6) | 8.9 (4.3) | 10.3 (4.8) | < 0.001 |
Depression symptoms, n (%) | 2269 (43.7) | 1060 (38.0) | 1209 (50.2) | < 0.001 |
Multimorbidity, n (%) | 1859 (35.8) | 960 (34.4) | 899 (37.3) | 0.030 |
Mobility limitation, n (%) | 3039 (58.5) | 1403 (50.3) | 1636 (67.9) | < 0.001 |
Subjective memory, n (%) |  |  |  | < 0.001 |
 Poor | 1371 (26.4) | 621 (22.3) | 750 (31.1) |  |
 Fair | 2677 (51.5) | 1486 (53.3) | 1191 (49.5) |  |
 Excellent/very good/good | 1148 (22.1) | 681 (24.4) | 467 (19.4) |  |