Evaluation of the use of health care services for non-communicable disease and prevention by children and adolescents in south Italy

Table 1 Main characteristics of the children and parents

	Total
	(n = 891)
Parents	N	%
Gender
Male	198	22.2
Female	693	77.8
Age (years)	43.4 ± 6.4(21–71)^a
Marital status
Married	783	87.8
Other	108	12.2
Educational level
Primary school or less	20	2.3
Middle school	166	18.6
High school	439	49.3
Baccalaureate/graduate degree	266	29.8
At least one parent who is a health care professional
No	805	90.4
Yes	86	9.6
Number of children
1	107	12
2	545	61.2
> 2	239	26.8
Number of cohabiting	3.3 ± 1.1(1–10)^a
Children
Gender
Male	359	40.3
Female	532	59.7
Age (years)	12.6 ± 3.5(5–18)^a
5–10	231	25.9
11–14	353	39.6
15–18	307	34.5
Chronic conditions
None	744	83.5
At least one	147	16.5
Health problems in the last year
No	602	67.6
Yes	289	32.4
Parent’s perception of health problem
Very slight	301	33.8
Slight	198	22.2
Moderate	352	39.5
Serious	40	4.5
Having day lost from school due to health problems
No	502	56.3
Yes	389	43.7

^aMean ± standard deviation (range)
Number for each item may not add up to total number of study population due to missing value

ISSN: 1472-6963