Table 1

Distribution of characteristics for women and men who completed the Health and Life Experiences Questionnaire in the EPIC-Norfolk cohort

CharacteristicWomen (n=10 335)Men (n=8236)
Number with characteristicPercentage and number with MDDNumber with characteristicPercentage and number with MDD
Individual-level variables
Sociodemographics
Age (years)
 <5014505.0 (72)*9643.4 (33)*
  50–6037163.9 (145)26513.0 (80)
  60–7031802.1 (68)27431.5 (40)
 >7019892.7 (54)18781.3 (24)
Education†
  Low40503.5 (141)23652.2 (51)
  High62853.2 (198)58712.1 (126)
Marital status
  Single4172.4 (10)*3033.6 (11)*
  Married77502.7 (207)72371.7 (122)
  Other‡21685.6 (122)6966.3 (44)
Social class§
  Manual38293.3 (127)32862.3 (76)
  Non-manual65063.3 (212)49502.0 (101)
Employment
  Yes40753.1 (128)38211.8 (68)*
  No62603.4 (211)44152.5 (109)
Health status
Prevalent physical disease
Yes¶56983.8 (214)*38432.6 (100)*
  No46372.7 (125)43931.8 (77)
Disability level
High**52963.9 (208)*40213.0 (119)*
  Low50392.6 (131)42151.4 (58)
Lifetime GAD
  Yes44819.4 (87)*25522.4 (57)*
  No98872.5 (252)79811.5 (120)
Area-level variable
Townsend index
Deprivation
  Above average deprivation (>0)16464.6 (76)*12423.6 (45)*
  Below average deprivation (≤0)86893.0 (263)69941.9 (132)

  • *p<0.001; ***p<0.05.

  • †High education: O-level, A-level, degree; low education: refers to no education.

  • ‡Other: divorced, separated, widowed.

  • §Manual: skilled manual, semi-skilled, non-skilled; non-manual: professionals, managerial, skilled non-manual.

  • ¶Prevalent physical disease: respiratory disease (asthma and bronchitis), allergies (allergies and hay fever), stroke, heart attack, cancer, diabetes, thyroid conditions, arthritis.

  • **Below the PCS value of 50.6.

  • ††See online supplementary appendix 2 for the distribution of the Townsend index scores in men and women.

  • GAD, generalised anxiety disorder; MDD, major depressive disorder; PCS, physical component summary.