Table 1

General characteristics of the study participants at the baseline (2008)

	N	Per cent	Per cent *
Type of insurance
Health insurance	11 783	100.00	100.00
Gender
Male	5361	45.50	47.49
Female	6422	54.50	52.51
Age
≤19	2611	22.16	25.56
20–39	2717	23.06	27.90
40–59	3030	25.72	27.46
≥60	3425	29.07	19.07
Residential region
Urban	5000	42.43	45.45
Rural	6783	57.57	54.55
Marital status
Married	6498	55.15	54.45
Single (including divorced, separated)	5285	44.85	45.55
Education level
≤Elementary	4748	40.30	32.50
Middle school	1559	13.23	12.15
High school	3002	25.48	27.76
≥College	2474	21.00	27.59
Number of chronic diseases
0	7254	61.56	68.42
1	412	3.50	4.13
≥2	4117	34.94	27.45
Economic activity status
≥Yes	5033	42.71	43.14
≥No (including housewife)	6750	57.29	56.86