Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of the study sample, stratified by the four study groups
| Â | Healthy group | High-symptom- no-chronic group (MUS) | Low-symptom-chronic group | High-symptom-chronic group | Chi2-test | Chi2-test | Chi2-test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
(n = 2771) | (n = 272) | (n = 4259) | (n = 885) | Healthy vs. High-symptom- no-chronic | Healthy vs. Low-symptom-chronic | Healthy vs. High-symptom-chronic | |
| Â | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | % (n) | Â | Â | Â |
Sex | |||||||
 Women | 49.8 (1379) | 74.6 (203) | 55.9 (2382) | 69.4 (614) |  |  |  |
 Men | 50.2 (1392) | 25.4 (69) | 44.1 (1877) | 30.6 (271) | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 |
Age | |||||||
 18–29 | 21.8 (605) | 22.8 (62) | 16.8 (715) | 15.8 (140) |  |  |  |
 30–39 | 25.0 (693) | 19.5 (53) | 24.1 (1027) | 18.9 (167) |  |  |  |
 40–49 | 28.0 (776) | 27.6 (75) | 27.8 (1185) | 25.2 (223) |  |  |  |
 50–59 | 25.2 (697) | 30.2 (82) | 31.3 (1332) | 40.1 (355) | p = 0.1319 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 |
Education | |||||||
 No vocational education | 20.7 (553) | 28.9 (75) | 20.4 (836) | 27.6 (235) |  |  |  |
 Short education | 14.2 (378) | 13.9 (36) | 14.0 (574) | 17.1 (146) |  |  |  |
 Medium length education | 52.4 (1398) | 48.1 (125) | 52.2 (2140) | 47.8 (408) |  |  |  |
 Long education | 12.7 (340) | 9.2 (24) | 13.5 (552) | 7.5 (64) | p = 0.0147 | p = 0.8566 | p < 0.0001 |
Labor market position | |||||||
 Self-employed | 6.6 (181) | 4.8 (13) | 6.4 (271) | 2.9 (26) |  |  |  |
 Non-manual, high grade | 13.9 (383) | 6.6 (18) | 13.5 (570) | 6.3 (56) |  |  |  |
 Non-manual, intermediate grade | 15.4 (425) | 15.1 (41) | 17.1 (726) | 11.2 (99) |  |  |  |
 Non-manual, low grade | 17.9 (494) | 21.0 (57) | 17.5 (129) | 14.6 (129) |  |  |  |
 Manual, skilled | 15.2 (418) | 13.7 (37) | 12.0 (509) | 10.2 (90) |  |  |  |
 Manual, semi-/unskilled | 12.1 (332) | 15.5 (42) | 9.6 (407) | 10.3 (91) |  |  |  |
 Work on special terms | 0.5 (14) | 1.5 (4) | 2.2 (94) | 5.9 (52) |  |  |  |
 Vocational training/student | 10.9 (301) | 10.3 (28) | 9.0 (382) | 7.8 (69) |  |  |  |
 Out of work, on leave | 3.3 (92) | 3.0 (8) | 3.4 (145) | 2.9 (26) |  |  |  |
 Out of work, sickness absence | 0.3 (9) | 1.9 (5) | 1.5 (62) | 4.3 (38) |  |  |  |
 Out of work, unemployed | 3.2 (87) | 4.8 (13) | 4.1 (173) | 6.8 (60) |  |  |  |
 Out of work, retired | 0.5 (14) | 1.9 (5) | 3.7 (156) | 16.7 (147) | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 | p < 0.0001 |