Table 1 Characteristics of all BHIS participants (n = 16,455) and categorized as with (n = 4,932) and without (n = 11,523) psychological distress

Male

7,813 (47.5%)

1,959 (39.7%)

5,854 (50.8%)

 < 0.0001

Age, years

50.3 ± 18.9

48.9 ± 18.9

50.9 ± 18.9

 < 0.0001

Year

 < 0.0001

 2008

5,479 (33.3%)

1,498 (30.4%)

3,981 (34.6%)

 2013

4,674 (28.4%)

1,435 (29.1%)

3,239 (28.1%)

 2018

6,302 (38.3%)

1,999 (40.5%)

4,303 (37.3%)

Region

 < 0.0001

 Flanders

6,946 (42.2%)

1,856 (37.6%)

5,090 (44.2%)

 Brussels Capital Region

3,538 (21.5%)

1,246 (25.3%)

2,292 (19.9%)

 Wallonia

5,971 (36.3%)

1,830 (37.1%)

4,141 (35.9%)

Highest educational level in the household

0.014

 Up to lower secondary school

3,543 (21.5%)

1,132 (23.0%)

2,411 (20.9%)

 Higher secondary school

5,149 (31.3%)

1,526 (30.9%)

3,623 (31.4%)

 College or university

7,763 (47.2%)

2,274 (46.1%)

5,489 (47.6%)

Household composition

 < 0.0001

 Single

3,575 (21.7%)

1,238 (25.1%)

2,337 (20.3%)

 One parent with child(ren)

1,349 (8.2%)

565 (11.5%)

784 (6.8%)

 Couple without child(ren)

4,357 (26.5%)

1,085 (22.0%)

3,272 (28.4%)

 Couple with child(ren)

6,080 (37.0%)

1,708 (34.6%)

4,372 (37.9%)

 Other

1,094 (6.7%)

336 (6.8%)

758 (6.6%)

Country of birth

0.0001

 Belgium

13,841 (84.1%)

4,122 (83.6%)

9,719 (84.3%)

 EU

1,374 (8.4%)

378 (7.7%)

996 (8.6%)

 Non-EU

1,240 (7.5%)

432 (8.8%)

808 (7.0%)

Smoking status

 < 0.0001

 Current smoker

3,455 (21.0%)

1,256 (25.5%)

2,199 (19.1%)

 Current non-smoker

13,000 (79.0%)

3,676 (74.5%)

9,324 (80.9%)

Physical activity ^a

 < 0.0001

 Active lifestyle

10,413 (69.9%)

2,761 (62.1%)

7,652 (73.2%)

 Sedentary lifestyle

4,486 (30.1%)

1,686 (37.9%)

2,800 (26.8%)

Urbanization ^b

 < 0.0001

 Big cities / dense agglomerations

7,178 (44.0%)

2,331 (47.6%)

4,847 (42.4%)

 Suburban areas

2,326 (14.2%)

642 (13.1%)

1,684 (14.7%)

 Urbanized municipalities

4,083 (25.0%)

1,149 (23.5%)

2,934 (25.7%)

 Rural areas

2,743 (16.8%)

776 (15.8%)

1,967 (17.2%)

Green space 1000 m buffer

8.1% ± 11.9

7.8% ± 11.7

8.2% ± 12.0

0.118