Table 1 General characteristics of study participants according to main meal frequency

Age, years

51.0 ± 0.3¹⁾

39.6 ± 0.3

33.7 ± 0.8

< 0.0001³⁾

51.9 ± 0.2

42.2 ± 0.3

35.8 ± 0.8

< 0.0001

Education

< 0.0001

< 0.0001

 ≤Elementary

923 (9.2)²⁾

152 (3.0)

9 (1.8)

2,156 (18.9)

522 (9.1)

36 (5.2)

 Middle school

794 (8.8)

187 (4.7)

6 (1.4)

1,062 (10.4)

338 (7.0)

30 (7.1)

 High school

1,794 (27.2)

794 (25.2)

75 (28.3)

2,245 (27.5)

1,131 (28.2)

92 (23.1)

 ≥College

2,991 (54.8)

1,774 (67.0)

176 (68.5)

3,218 (43.2)

1,988 (55.7)

206 (64.6)

Household income

0.0001

0.0002

 Lowest

1,042 (11.9)

317 (8.9)

41 (11.5)

1,562 (14.1)

521 (10.8)

41 (8.9)

 Lower middle

1,244 (16.7)

465 (14.6)

50 (17.0)

1,672 (17.6)

732 (17.1)

62 (16.2)

 Middle

1,277 (20.3)

618 (21.5)

52 (20.0)

1,719 (20.7)

871 (22.3)

79 (21.7)

 Upper middle

1,362 (23.0)

760 (27.5)

67 (27.4)

1,811 (22.7)

944 (25.3)

93 (28.2)

 Highest

1,577 (28.1)

747 (27.5)

56 (24.1)

1,918 (25.0)

911 (24.5)

89 (24.9)

Occupation

0.0025

< 0.0001

 Yes

1,983 (25.7)

717 (24.1)

92 (34.5)

4,324 (48.6)

1,722 (42.7)

145 (37.9)

 No

4,519 (74.3)

2,190 (75.9)

174 (65.5)

4,357 (51.4)

2,257 (57.3)

219 (62.1)

Marital status

< 0.0001

< 0.0001

 Married

5,671 (81.1)

1,881 (58.1)

103 (32.5)

8,003 (88.7)

3,033 (69.1)

227 (53.9)

 Single

831 (18.9)

1,026 (41.9)

163 (67.5)

678 (11.3)

946 (30.9)

137 (46.1)

Household type

< 0.0001

0.3923

 Single-person households

655 (8.8)

433 (13.2)

54 (17.8)

1,197 (10.0)

495 (9.5)

50 (11.7)

 Multi-person households

5,847 (91.2)

2,474 (86.8)

212 (82.2)

7,484 (90.0)

3,484 (90.5)

314 (88.3)

Region

< 0.0001

< 0.0001

 Urban

5,085 (84.1)

2,453 (89.1)

232 (92.4)

6,977 (85.7)

3,406 (89.9)

304 (88.2)

 Rural

1,417 (15.9)

454 (10.9)

34 (7.6)

1,704 (14.3)

573 (10.1)

60 (11.8)

Alcohol consumption

0.0130

< 0.0001

 None

2,095 (30.6)

815 (26.6)

73 (26.2)

5,543 (60.5)

2,021 (46.9)

141 (34.7)

 Moderate

2,224 (37.0)

1,044 (38.4)

100 (40.7)

2,351 (29.7)

1,340 (37.2)

150 (43.6)

 High

2,183 (32.4)

1,048 (35.0)

93 (33.1)

787 (9.7)

618 (15.9)

73 (21.7)

Smoking status

< 0.0001

< 0.0001

 Never

1,557 (25.8)

741 (28.8)

76 (31.1)

8,010 (91.6)

3,303 (82.0)

269 (76.7)

 Past smokers

3,220 (45.9)

949 (29.9)

61 (21.4)

420 (5.0)

342 (8.9)

36 (10.5)

 Current smokers

1,725 (28.3)

1,217 (41.3)

129 (47.6)

251 (3.4)

334 (9.1)

39 (12.9)

Body mass index, kg/m²

24.5 ± 0.04

24.9 ± 0.1

25.0 ± 0.3

< 0.0001

23.3 ± 0.1

23.2 ± 0.1

22.8 ± 0.2

0.0232

Physical activity

0.2819

0.6499

 Yes

3,539 (50.6)

1,509 (48.9)

126 (46.8)

5,150 (56.8)

2,361 (56.1)

264 (54.4)

 No

2,963 (49.4)

1,398 (51.1)

140 (53.2)

3,530 (43.2)

1,618 (43.9)

160 (45.6)