The AMEL study, a cross sectional population-based survey on aging and malnutrition in 1200 elderly Lebanese living in rural settings: protocol and sample characteristics

Table 1 Socio-demographic characteristics of the study sample, distributed by gender

Variables	N¹/%	Total (N = 1200)	Males (N = 591)	Females (N = 609)	p
Age mean (SD)		75.3 (7.1)	75.7 (7.2)	75.0 (6.9)	0.084
Age Class	N	1193	586	607
65-75 y	%	55.0	52.9	57.0	0.353
76-85 y	%	35.0	36.9	33.3
>85 y	%	10.0	10.2	9.7
Religion	N	1195	590	605
Christian	%	58.6	58.1	59.0	0.876
Muslims	%	27.7	27.6	27.8
Druze	%	13.7	14.3	13.2
Living condition	N	1200	591	609
Living alone	%	9.9	4.9	14.8	<0.001
Living with others	%	90.1	95.1	85.2
Marital status	N	1200	591	609
Married	%	64.2	84.8	44.2	<0.001
Divorced/single	%	6.5	3.7	9.2
Widowed	%	29.3	11.5	46.6
Education	N	1199	590	609
Illiterate	%	44.8	29.7	59.4	<0.001
Primary school	%	34.5	43.2	26.1
Middle school	%	13.0	15.4	10.7
High school/university	%	7.7	11.7	3.8
Monthly income	N	1143	571	572
< 300.000 LL	%	46.8	35.2	58.3	< 0.001
300.000 – 600.000 LL	%	26.6	29.9	23.3
>600.000 LL	%	26.6	34.9	18.4
Financially dependent from children	N	1192	588	604
No	%	33.9	42.3	25.6	< 0.001
Partially	%	20.7	26.2	15.6
Totally	%	45.4	31.5	58.8
Health Insurance	N	1194	588	606
No	%	41.1	38.3	43.9	0.069
Private insurance	%	5.1	6.1	4.1
NSSF and others²	%	53.8	56.6	52.0
Currently working	N	1199	591	608
Yes	%	17.0	29.1	5.3	<0.001
No	%	83.0	70.9	94.7
Main occupation	N	1197	590	607
Farmer	%	18.5	28.0	9.4	<0.001
Employee/manager	%	25.5	41.5	9.9
Self-employed	%	16.4	25.9	7.1
Without work (including household)	%	39.6	4.6	73.6

¹Number of respondents to this question; ² NSSF (national social security fund) and others.

ISSN: 1471-2458