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Table 1 Demographic characteristics, education level and exposure to smoking or heavy vehicle traffic in the study samples

From: Type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased prevalence of respiratory symptoms as compared to the general population

 

45-64 years

65-84 years

 

General population

Diabetic patients

p value

General population

Diabetic patients

p value

 

(n = 676)

(n = 94)

 

(n = 591)

(n = 165)

 

Female (%)

360 (53.3)

37 (39.4)

0.015

261 (44.2)

66 (40.2)

0.375

Age (mean ± SD)

55.3 (± 5.8)

56.1 (± 5.8)

z = −1.30, p = 0.193

73.3 (± 5.5)

73.2 (± 5.5)

z = 0.20, p = 0.842

Education level (%)

  

z = −4.73, p < 0.001

  

z = −6.58, p < 0.001

 Primary school

86 (15.6)

29 (31.5)

 

258 (44.2)

119 (74.8)

 

 Secondary school

186 (33.6)

36 (39.1)

 

162 (27.7)

24 (15.1)

 

 High school

192 (34.7)

24 (26.1)

 

120 (20.5)

15 (9.4)

 

 University

89 (16.1)

3 (3.3)

 

44 (7.5)

1 (0.6)

 

Smoking habits (%)

  

0.418

  

0.560

 Never-smokers

278 (42.1)

31 (34.8)

 

330 (57.8)

85 (55.6)

 

 Ex-smokers

228 (34.6)

35 (39.3)

 

185 (32.4)

56 (36.6)

 

 Current smokers

154 (23.3)

23 (25.8)

 

56 (9.8)

12 (7.8)

 

Heavy vehicle traffic exposure

  

z = −2.51, p = 0.012

  

z = −6.43, p < 0.001

 Never

121 (22.1)

18 (20.2)

 

144 (25.1)

15 (9.3)

 

 Seldom

236 (43.1)

32 (36.0)

 

227 (39.6)

59 (36.4)

 

 Frequently

113 (20.7)

11 (12.4)

 

128 (22.3)

30 (18.5)

 

 Constantly

77 (14.1)

28 (31.5)

 

74 (12.9)

58 (35.8)

 
  1. P values were computed by Fisher’s exact test for sex and smoking habits, chi-square test for trend for education and exposure to heavy vehicle traffic and Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney non-parametric test for age. Significant results are highlighted in bold