| Characteristics | Overall (N=5095) | No Cancer (n=4680) | Cancer (n=415) | Characteristics | Overall (N=5095) | No Cancer (n=4680) | Cancer (n=415) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age | Cigarette smoking | ||||||
| ≤50 | 11 | 12 | 5 | Former | 36 | 35 | 41 |
| 51 to 54 | 10 | 10 | 7 | Current | 16 | 16 | 17 |
| 55 to 64 | 64 | 64 | 67 | Physical activity | |||
| ≥65 | 15 | 15 | 20 | Sedentary/light | 43 | 43 | 43 |
| Female | 55 | 56 | 48 | Moderate | 43 | 43 | 42 |
| Education | Vigorous | 14 | 13 | 15 | |||
| High school or less | 63 | 63 | 56 | Body mass index | |||
| Some college | 15 | 14 | 20 | ≤24.9 | 32 | 32 | 30 |
| College degree | 12 | 12 | 13 | 25–29 | 43 | 43 | 45 |
| Postgraduate training | 10 | 10 | 12 | ≥30 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Insurance status* | Family history of cancer | 57 | 56 | 64 | |||
| Private | 54 | 54 | 47 | Marital status | |||
| Public/uninsured† | 46 | 46 | 53 | Widowed/divorced/never married | 15 | 15 | 13 |
| Household income ($) | Married | 85 | 85 | 87 | |||
| <20,000 | 15 | 15 | 15 | Mean number of children | 3 (2) | 3 (2) | 3 (2) |
| 20,000–34,999 | 13 | 13 | 13 | Mean stressful life event count | 2 (2) | 2 (2) | 2 (2) |
| 35,000–49,999 | 20 | 20 | 20 | Mean social relationship count | 8 (6) | 8 (6) | 8 (7) |
| 50,000–64,999 | 19 | 19 | 19 | Mean social participation count | 4 (3) | 4 (3) | 4 (3) |
| ≥65,000 | 34 | 33 | 33 | Personality score (Mean) | |||
| Percent employed | 84 | 84 | 85 | Openness to experience | 21 (5) | 21 (5) | 22 (5) |
| Chronic conditions | Conscientiousness | 29 (4) | 29 (4) | 29 (4) | |||
| Hypertension | 23 | 23 | 26 | Extraversion | 23 (5) | 23 (5) | 23 (5) |
| Heart disease | 10 | 10 | 12 | Agreeableness | 29 (4) | 29 (4) | 28 (4) |
| Respiratory conditions | 10 | 10 | 9 | Neuroticism | 16 (5) | 16 (5) | 16 (5) |
| Arthritis | 26 | 26 | 29 | ||||
| Other diagnoses | 22 | 22 | 21 | ||||
| Functional limitation | 17 | 17 | 16 | ||||
| Self-rated health | |||||||
| Very poor/poor/fair | 11 | 11 | 12 | ||||
| Good | 63 | 63 | 64 | ||||
| Excellent | 26 | 26 | 25 |
Values represent percent (ages) unless specified as mean (standard deviation). Bolded values indicate statistically significant difference between respondents with and without cancer (p < .05).
↵* Measured at the time of the 2003–2004 survey.
↵† Two percent of participants were uninsured at the time of the survey.