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Table 1 Unadjusted sociodemographic characteristics by community type in a sample of older US adults

From: Assessing the association between food environment and dietary inflammation by community type: a cross-sectional REGARDS study

Characteristic

All

Higher density urban

Lower density urban

Suburban/Small town

Rural

p-value

(n = 20,322)

(n = 3386)

(n = 8089)

(n = 3920)

(n = 4927)

Age, mean (SD)a

64.82 (9.23)

64.89 (9.30)

65.30 (9.37)

64.75 (9.18)

64.06 (8.94)

 <0 .0001

Sex, n (%)a

 Male

8977 (44.17)

1288 (38.04)

3632 (44.90)

1857 (47.37)

2200 (44.65)

 <0 .0001

 Female

11,345 (55.83)

2098 (61.96)

4457 (55.10)

2063 (52.63)

2727 (55.35)

 

Education, n (%)a

 Less than high school

1923 (9.46)

388 (11.46)

655 (8.10)

327 (8.34)

553 (11.22)

 <0 .0001

 High school graduate

5158 (25.38)

833 (24.60)

1817 (22.46)

964 (24.59)

1544 (31.34)

 

 Some college

5571 (27.41)

974 (28.76)

2258 (27.91)

1049 (26.76)

1290 (26.18)

 

 College graduate and above

7670 (37.74)

1191 (35.16)

3359 (41.53)

1580 (40.31)

1540 (31.26)

 

Race, n (%)a

 Black

6821 (33.56)

2190 (64.68)

3018 (37.31)

784 (20.00)

829 (16.83)

 < 0.0001

 White

13,501 (66.44)

1196 (35.32)

5071 (62.69)

3136 (80.00)

4098 (83.17)

 

Income, n (%)a

  < $20,000

3159 (15.54)

685 (20.23)

1164 (14.39)

496 (12.65)

814 (16.52)

 < 0.0001

 $20,000−$34,000

4909 (24.16)

896 (26.46)

1876 (23.19)

852 (21.73)

1285 (26.08)

 

 $35,000−$74,000

6409 (31.52)

938 (27.70)

2632 (32.54)

1313 (33.49)

1523 (30.91)

 

 $75,000 and above

3533 (17.39)

450 (13.29)

1513 (18.70)

808 (20.61)

762 (15.47)

 

 Refused

2315 (11.39)

417 (12.32)

904 (11.18)

451 (11.51)

543 (11.02)

 

 NSEE, mean (SD)a,b

19.50 (11.18)

27.37 (13.03)

17.22 (11.06)

16.33 (10.08)

20.36 (7.59)

 < 0.0001

 DIS, mean (SD)c

− 0.004 (2.52)

0.17 (2.64)

–0.08 (2.52)

− 0.14 (2.50)

0.10 (2.45)

 < 0.0001

 Mediterranean Diet Score, mean (SD)d

4.36 (1.70)

4.48 (1.72)

4.45 (1.70)

4.33 (1.70)

4.15 (1.65)

 < 0.0001

  1. Statistical significance is P < 0.05 for the χ2 and ANOVA tests between REGARDS participants residing in higher density urban, lower density urban, suburban/small town, and rural communities; SD standard deviation
  2. an = 20,322. Participants aged ≥ 45 years were enrolled in the REGARDS study from 2003 to 2007. Sample excludes those with anomalous data (n = 56) and those missing DIS, census tract identifier or sociodemographic data (n = 9861)
  3. bNSEE = Neighborhood social and economic environment is a z‐score sum of 6 US census‐derived variables, with sums scaled between 0 and 100. A higher NSEE score indicates more socioeconomic disadvantage
  4. cTheoretical range: − 14.9–12.8. A higher score indicates greater exposure to pro-inflammatory foods
  5. dTheoretical range: 0–9. A higher score indicates greater adherence to a Mediterranean diet
  6. dn = 21,042. Sample excludes those with anomalous data (n = 56) and those missing Mediterranean Diet Score, census tract identifier or sociodemographic data (n = 9141)
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International Journal of Health Geographics

ISSN: 1476-072X