Descriptive summary of the sample
| Sample characteristic | Chinese n=2467 | Indian n=2128 | Malay n=1253 |
| Men (%) | 49.3 | 49.2 | 45.9 |
| Mean age (SD) | 59.3 (8.9) | 59.4 (9.0) | 60.2 (9.0) |
| BMI categories | |||
| Normal (%): 18.5–24.9 kg/m2 | 64.7 | 40.1 | 33.9 |
| Overweight (%): 25.0–29.9 kg/m2 | 29.2 | 40.9 | 40.8 |
| Obese (%): ≥ 30 kg/m2 | 6.1 | 18.9 | 25.3 |
| Education | |||
| No formal education (%) | 10.0 | 7.8 | 10.4 |
| Primary education (%) | 29.9 | 30.0 | 39.7 |
| Secondary education (%) | 36.8 | 38.3 | 40.1 |
| Postsecondary education (%) | 23.3 | 23.9 | 9.9 |
| Housing | |||
| 1–2 room HDB flat (%) | 2.1 | 3.8 | 13.3 |
| 3–4 room HDB flat (%) | 55.3 | 59.5 | 65.3 |
| 5 room/executive HDB flat (%) | 28.6 | 28.0 | 17.7 |
| Other (%) | 14.0 | 8.7 | 3.8 |
| Marital status | |||
| Single (%) | 21.3 | 22.2 | 30.8 |
| Married (%) | 78.7 | 77.8 | 69.2 |
| Currently employed (%) | 54.4 | 55.0 | 41.3 |
| Monthly income from work | |||
| Less than S$999 (%) | 11.8 | 12.0 | 14.7 |
| S$1000–$1999 (%) | 30.2 | 34.6 | 37.8 |
| S$2000–$2999 (%) | 16.1 | 18.8 | 19.1 |
| S$3000–$3999 (%) | 9.3 | 12.4 | 12.6 |
| S$4000–$4999 (%) | 5.6 | 5.0 | 5.4 |
| S$5000–$6999 (%) | 5.2 | 5.4 | 4.1 |
| S$7000–$8999 (%) | 3.7 | 2.7 | 1.4 |
| S$9000–$10 999 (%) | 2.5 | 2.1 | 0.0 |
| Over S$11 000 (%) | 3.7 | 2.9 | 0.0 |
| Do not know (%) | 0.8 | 0.1 | 0.2 |
| Refused (%) | 11.3 | 4.0 | 4.8 |
BMI, body-mass index; HDB, Housing Development Board.