Distributions of sociodemographic characteristics among adult patients with and without thyroid nodules
| Variable | Nodules | No nodules | p Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| (n=2228) | (n=4565) | ||
| Age, years | 53.49±13.80 | 44.93±13.72 | <0.001 |
| Height, cm | 160.72±7.25 | 162.24±7.54 | <0.001 |
| Weight, kg | 59.30±8.12 | 59.10±8.33 | 0.177 |
| BMI, kg/m2 | 23.07±2.69 | 22.52±2.65 | <0.001 |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 646 (28.99) | 1870 (40.96) | <0.001 |
| Female | 1582 (71.01) | 2695 (59.04) | |
| Education* | |||
| Primary school | 922 (42.10) | 1317 (29.15) | <0.001 |
| Junior high school | 647 (29.54) | 1440 (31.87)) | |
| Senior high school | 470 (21.46) | 1283 (28.40) | |
| Junior college and above | 151 (6.89) | 478 (10.58) | |
| Marriage | |||
| Single | 78 (3.51) | 378 (8.29) | <0.001 |
| Married | 1980 (88.98) | 3981 (87.30) | |
| Divorce | 22 (0.99) | 47 (1.03) | |
| Widowed | 139 (6.25) | 140 (3.07) | |
| Other | 6 (0.27) | 14 (0.31) | |
| Residence location | |||
| Urban area | 1214 (54.49) | 2125 (46.55) | <0.001 |
| Rural area | 1014 (45.52) | 2440 (53.45) | |
| Cigarette smoking | |||
| Never | 1825 (82.65) | 3508 (77.46) | <0.001 |
| Ever | 69 (3.13) | 121 (2.67) | |
| Current | 314 (14.22) | 900 (19.87) | |
| Alcohol drinking | |||
| No | 1822 (83.27) | 3608 (80.55) | 0.027 |
| Yes | 366 (16.73) | 871 (19.45) | |
| Salt appetite | |||
| Moderate | 1135 (51.24) | 2479 (54.52) | 0.036 |
| Salty | 469 (21.17) | 916 (20.15) | |
| Light | 611 (27.58) | 1152 (25.34) | |
| Milk consumption | |||
| Yes | 837 (42.02) | 1965 (45.55) | 0.009 |
| No | 1155 (57.98) | 2349 (54.45) | |
| Diet patterns† | |||
| Balanced | 1662 (74.73) | 3484 (76.32) | 0.043 |
| Vegetarian | 403 (18.12) | 722 (15.82) | |
| Meat | 159 (7.15) | 359 (7.89) | |
| Types of salt‡ | |||
| Iodised salt | 2082 (94.38) | 4385 (96.65) | <0.001 |
| Non-iodised | 124 (5.62) | 152 (3.35) | |
Values are mean±SD or n (%).
*Educational status: primary school group includes illiterate subjects; senior high school group is made up of senior high school and technical secondary school.
†Vegetarian indicates that subjects consistently had a vegetable diet; meat indicates that subjects consistently had a meat diet; moderate indicates that subjects intermittently had a vegetable or meat diet.
‡Iodised salt indicates that subjects consistently consumed iodised salt; non-iodised salt indicates that subjects intermittently consumed iodised salt or consistently consumed non-iodised salt.
BMI, body mass index.