Table 1 Characteristics of the sample by sex
From: Predictors of healthy ageing: public health policy targets
|  | Categories | Males | Females | Description of indexes – no. of points attributed | Index | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Variables | N | % | N | % | |||
Age groups | 60–67 | 1976 | 38.5 | 2324 | 39.3 |  | |
68–79 | 2399 | 46.7 | 2546 | 43.1 | |||
> = 80 | 764 | 14.9 | 1039 | 17.6 | |||
Education | Elementary | 2529 | 51.2 | 3782 | 65.4 | ||
Secondary | 1535 | 31.1 | 1394 | 24.1 | |||
University | 876 | 17.7 | 609 | 10.5 | |||
Country group | Western Europe | 1445 | 28.1 | 1589 | 26.9 | ||
Southern Europe | 2301 | 44.8 | 2598 | 44 | |||
Central-Eastern Europe | 1393 | 27.1 | 1722 | 29.1 | |||
Healthy ageing | Worse than good SAH. functional limitations. perception that life has no meaning | 2717 | 52.9 | 3484 | 59 | ||
At least good SAH. no functional limitations. perception of life meaningfulness | 2422 | 47.1 | 2425 | 41 | |||
Current job situation | Non-working (retired. unemployed. homemaker. permanently sick or disabled. rentier. student. etc.) | 4632 | 91.2 | 5594 | 95.7 | 0 | Psychosocial index |
Working (employed or self-employed) | 449 | 8.8 | 253 | 4.3 | 1 | ||
Activity in last 12Â months | No activities | 1284 | 25.5 | 1504 | 25.9 | 0 | |
Activities at home (read books. magazines. did word or number games. chess. cards) | 1773 | 35.2 | 1916 | 33 | 1 | ||
Activities outside of house (voluntary or charity work. educational course. sport. social club. taking part in religious. community organizations. | 1982 | 39.3 | 2379 | 41 | 2 | ||
Network satisfaction (scale from 0 to 10 where 0 means completely dissatisfied and 10 means completely satisfied) | 0–5 points | 43 | 0.9 | 48 | 0.9 | 0 | |
6–10 points | 4728 | 99.1 | 5479 | 99.1 | 1 | ||
Life satisfaction (scale from 0 to 10 where 0 means completely dissatisfied and 10 means completely satisfied) | 0–5 points | 778 | 15.2 | 1170 | 19.9 | 0 | |
6–10 points | 4329 | 84.8 | 4721 | 80.1 | 1 | ||
Smoking status | Current smoking | 922 | 21.2 | 589 | 14.2 | 0 | Life style index |
No smoking currently | 3428 | 78.8 | 3573 | 85.8 | 1 | ||
Vigorous physical activity | Less than once a week | 2979 | 58.5 | 3956 | 67.7 | 0 | |
Once a week | 611 | 12 | 619 | 10.6 | 1 | ||
More than once a week sports or activities that are vigorous | 1498 | 29.4 | 1271 | 21.7 | 2 | ||
Moderate physical activity | Once a week or less | 1836 | 36.1 | 2544 | 43.5 | 0 | |
More than once a week activities requiring a moderate level of energy | 3252 | 63.9 | 3302 | 56.5 | 1 | ||
Vegetables consumption | Less than 3–6 times a week | 411 | 8 | 355 | 6.1 | 0 | |
3–6 times a week | 903 | 17.6 | 888 | 15.2 | 1 | ||
Every day serving of fruits or vegetables | 3776 | 73.5 | 4604 | 78.7 | 2 | ||
Drinks consumption | 6 cups of more a day drinks of tea. coffee. water. milk. fruit. soft drinks | 374 | 7.3 | 439 | 7.5 | 0 | |
3–5 cups | 1534 | 30.1 | 1989 | 34 | 1 | ||
1–2 cups | 3183 | 62.5 | 3418 | 58.5 | 2 | ||
Regular meals | Meals not regular | 569 | 11.1 | 595 | 10.1 | 0 | |
Regular meals | 4570 | 88.9 | 5314 | 89.9 | 1 | ||
| Â | Â | N | mean (SD) | N | mean (SD) | Â | |
Lifestyle index | Â | 4717 | 6.26 (1.70) | 5475 | 6.20 (1.65) | ||
Psychosocial index | Â | 4347 | 3.12 (0.98) | 4156 | 3.03 (0.99) | ||