Table 1 Characteristics of older Japanese men and women by level of cooking skills (n = 19,378)
|  | Males (n = 9143) | Females (n = 10,595) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Total | Cooking skill | Total | Cooking skill | ||||||||
n | % | High | Middle | Low | p-value | n | % | High | Middle/Low | p-value | |
% | % | % | % | % | |||||||
Cooking skill | |||||||||||
 High | 4751 | 52.0 | 100 | 0 | 0 |  | 9968 | 94.1 | 100.0 | 0 |  |
 Middle | 3269 | 35.8 | 0 | 100 | 0 |  | 498 | 4.7 | 0 | 79.4 |  |
 Low | 1123 | 12.3 | 0 | 0 | 100 |  | 129 | 1.2 | 0 | 20.6 |  |
Age (years) | |||||||||||
 65–69 | 2855 | 31.2 | 32.7 | 29.8 | 29.2 | < 0.001 | 3269 | 30.9 | 31.7 | 18.0 | < 0.001 |
 70–74 | 2510 | 27.5 | 26.9 | 29.1 | 25.1 |  | 2893 | 27.3 | 27.8 | 19.9 |  |
 75–79 | 2059 | 22.5 | 22.9 | 22.3 | 21.4 |  | 2393 | 22.6 | 22.8 | 19.8 |  |
 ≥ 80 | 1719 | 18.8 | 17.5 | 18.8 | 24.3 |  | 2040 | 19.3 | 17.8 | 42.3 |  |
Education (years) | |||||||||||
 Low (≤9) | 2626 | 28.7 | 28.2 | 28.1 | 32.7 | 0.002 | 3614 | 34.1 | 33.3 | 46.4 | < 0.001 |
 Middle (10–12) | 3461 | 37.9 | 36.8 | 39.4 | 37.9 |  | 4638 | 43.8 | 44.2 | 37.0 |  |
 High (≥13) | 2981 | 32.6 | 34.1 | 31.8 | 28.8 |  | 2198 | 20.7 | 21.1 | 14.7 |  |
 Other/Missing | 75 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.6 |  | 145 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.9 |  |
Annual income (million yen) | |||||||||||
 Low (< 2.00) | 3485 | 38.1 | 37.5 | 38.6 | 39.4 | 0.215 | 4110 | 38.8 | 38.5 | 43.1 | < 0.001 |
 Middle (2.00–3.99) | 3279 | 35.9 | 35.9 | 36.6 | 33.3 |  | 3049 | 28.8 | 29.3 | 21.1 |  |
 High (≥4.00) | 924 | 10.1 | 10.6 | 9.3 | 10.6 |  | 885 | 8.4 | 8.5 | 5.9 |  |
 Missing | 1455 | 15.9 | 16 | 15.4 | 16.7 |  | 2551 | 24.1 | 23.7 | 30.0 |  |
Marital status | |||||||||||
 Married | 7788 | 85.2 | 81.6 | 88.0 | 92.0 | < 0.001 | 6497 | 61.3 | 62.4 | 44.7 | < 0.001 |
 Widowed | 631 | 6.9 | 8.5 | 5.4 | 4.3 |  | 3097 | 29.2 | 28.3 | 43.9 |  |
 Divorced | 321 | 3.5 | 4.7 | 2.6 | 1.2 |  | 513 | 4.8 | 4.8 | 5.1 |  |
 Single | 257 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 1.0 |  | 307 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 4.1 |  |
 Other/Missing | 146 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.5 |  | 181 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.2 |  |
Under medical treatment | |||||||||||
 Cancer (Yes) | 450 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 4.5 | 5.7 | 0.53 | 355 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 4.3 | 0.35 |
 Heart disease (Yes) | 1219 | 13.3 | 13 | 13.6 | 14.2 | 0.84 | 713 | 6.7 | 6.5 | 9.7 | 0.008 |
 Stroke (Yes) | 385 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 6.5 | < 0.001 | 184 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 4.1 | < 0.001 |
 Diabetes mellitus (Yes) | 1484 | 16.2 | 16.6 | 15.3 | 17.4 | 0.47 | 1010 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 10.4 | 0.69 |
 Hypertension (Yes) | 3913 | 42.8 | 42.1 | 43.5 | 43.8 | 0.66 | 4391 | 41.4 | 41.0 | 48.2 | 0.002 |
 Hyperlipidemia (Yes) | 933 | 10.2 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 9.4 | 0.92 | 1658 | 15.6 | 15.8 | 13.2 | 0.19 |
Main way of preparing meals | |||||||||||
 Cook by yourself | 1283 | 14.0 | 22.2 | 6.1 | 2.2 | < 0.001 | 8714 | 82.2 | 84.0 | 54.9 | < 0.001 |
 Family member cook | 6785 | 74.2 | 65.1 | 82.5 | 88.5 |  | 977 | 9.2 | 7.9 | 30.3 |  |
 Buy cooked meals | 307 | 3.4 | 2.8 | 4.3 | 2.8 |  | 132 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 4.1 |  |
 Use home-delivery services | 81 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.4 |  | 46 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 |  |
 Other/Missing | 687 | 7.5 | 8.9 | 6.3 | 5.1 |  | 726 | 6.9 | 6.7 | 9.7 |  |
Frequency of home cooking (n/week) | |||||||||||
 ≥ 5 /week | 1310 | 14.3 | 23.3 | 5.8 | 1.2 | < 0.001 | 8762 | 82.7 | 84.6 | 51.8 | < 0.001 |
 3–4 /week | 757 | 8.3 | 12.5 | 4.6 | 1.1 |  | 902 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 11.8 |  |
 1–2 /week | 1002 | 11 | 15.3 | 7.7 | 2.0 |  | 366 | 3.5 | 3.2 | 8.1 |  |
 < 1 /week | 1157 | 12.7 | 15.2 | 12.4 | 2.8 |  | 199 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 7.2 |  |
 Never | 4917 | 53.8 | 33.7 | 69.6 | 92.9 |  | 366 | 3.5 | 2.3 | 21.1 |  |
Frequency of eating outside the home (n/week) | |||||||||||
 ≥ 5 /week | 242 | 2.6 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 3.7 | < 0.001 | 103 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.4 | 0.001 |
 3–4 /week | 462 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 4.2 |  | 268 | 2.5 | 2.6 | 2.1 |  |
 1–2 /week | 1450 | 15.9 | 16.9 | 15.6 | 12.3 |  | 1268 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 10.4 |  |
 < 1 /week | 3773 | 41.3 | 41.3 | 41.9 | 39.2 |  | 4297 | 40.6 | 41.0 | 34.1 |  |
 Never | 3216 | 35.2 | 34.2 | 34.7 | 40.7 |  | 4659 | 44.0 | 43.5 | 52.0 |  |
Frequency of vegetable/fruit intake (n/day) | |||||||||||
 ≥ 1 /day | 6625 | 72.5 | 73.3 | 70.6 | 74.4 | 0.008 | 9052 | 85.4 | 86.0 | 75.9 | < 0.001 |
 < 1 /day (low frequency) | 2518 | 27.5 | 26.7 | 29.4 | 25.6 |  | 1543 | 14.6 | 14.0 | 24.1 |  |
Body weight status (BMI, kg/m2) | |||||||||||
 Underweight (< 18.5) | 428 | 4.7 | 4.1 | 5.1 | 5.8 | 0.04 | 988 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 11.8 | 0.08 |
 Normal (18.5–27.4) | 8044 | 88.0 | 88.1 | 88.0 | 87.4 |  | 8833 | 83.4 | 83.5 | 81.5 |  |
 Obesity (≥ 27.5) | 671 | 7.3 | 7.8 | 6.9 | 6.9 |  | 774 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 6.7 |  |