Table 1

Characteristics of the study population (adults 40 years of age and older) and proportion of reported heart disease in relation to background variables, Lebanon 2004

Variable	Total subjects (N=7879)		Subjects reporting heart disease
Variable	N	Percentage	N	Percentage	p Value^*
Heart disease
Yes	594	7.5
No	7285	92.5
Sex
Male	3751	47.6	322	8.6	<0.001
Female	4128	52.4	271	6.6	<0.001
Age
70+	1296	16.5	241	18.6	<0.001
60–69	1593	20.2	172	10.8
50–59	2124	27.0	115	5.4
40–49	2866	36.4	65	2.3
Tobacco smoking
Current smoker	2880	36.8	131	4.5	<0.001
Past smoker	837	10.7	172	20.6
Never smoked	4112	52.5	288	7.0
Hypertension
Yes	1201	15.2	162	13.5	<0.001
No	6678	84.8	432	6.5	<0.001
Diabetes mellitus
Yes	793	10.1	107	13.5	<0.001
No	7085	89.9	487	6.9	<0.001
Hypercholesterolaemia
Yes	251	3.2	18	7.2	0.828
No	7628	96.8	575	7.5	0.828
Education
Less than elementary	2424	31.0	274	11.3	<0.001
Elementary	1988	25.4	149	7.5
Preparatory	1463	18.7	87	5.9
Secondary and higher	1938	24.8	84	4.3
Income
Low	2523	32.0	230	9.1	<0.001
Middle	3474	44.1	248	7.1
High	1881	23.9	116	6.2
Labour-force participation
Inactive	4161	53.3	380	9.1	<0.001
Active	3644	46.7	210	5.8	<0.001
Marriage
Previously married	1072	13.7	151	14.1	<0.001
Married	6043	77.0	429	7.1
Single	736	9.4	14	1.9
Region
Beirut	1048	13.3	109	7.5	<0.001
South and Nabatia	1282	16.3	86	10.4
Mount Lebanon	3186	40.4	248	7.8
North	1491	18.9	96	6.4
Bekaa valley	872	11.1	54	6.2

↵* p Values (two-tailed) from χ² tests.