Table 1 Characteristics of the study sample across survey waves, unweighted proportions

81,650 (100%)

27,754 (100%)

22,463 (100%)

15,490 (100%)

15,943 (100%)

Age, mean (std)

43.05 (12.95)

42.61 (12.98)

42.81 (13.12)

43.45 (12.79)

43.77 (12.77)

Sex, N(%)

0.0131

 Men

36,631 (44.9%)

12,472 (44.9%)

9980 (44.4%)

6861 (44.3%)

7318 (45.9%)

 Women

45,019 (55.1%)

15,292 (55.1%)

12,483 (55.6%)

8629 (55.7%)

8625 (54.1%)

Education

< 0.0001

 Primary, ≤ 9 years

9068 (11.1%)

3692 (13.3%)

2678 (11.9%)

1390 (9.0%)

1308 (8.2%)

 secondary, 10–12 years

31,874 (39.0%)

11,820 (42.6%)

9243 (41.2%)

5514 (35.6%)

5297 (33.2%)

 Post-secondary, ≥ 13 years

40,250 (49.3%)

12,124 (43.7%)

10,463 (46.6%)

8494 (54.8%)

9169 (57.5%)

 Missing

458 (0.56%)

118 (0.43%)

79 (0.35%)

92 (0.59%)

169 (1.1%)

Migration status^c, N(%)

< 0.0001

 Sweden

65,418 (80.1%)

22,521 (81.2%)

18,202 (81.0%)

12,462 (80.5%)

12,233 (76.7%)

 Nordic, other

2984 (3.7%)

1294 (4.7%)

879 (3.9%)

473 (3.1%)

338 (2.1%)

 Europe

4893 (6.0%)

1454 (5.2%)

1327 (5.9%)

992 (6.4%)

1120 (7.0%)

 Outside Europe

8346 (10.2%)

2479 (8.9%)

2055 (9.2%)

1561 (10.1%)

2251 (14.1%)

Household income, M (SD); ’000 Swedish crowns

311.9 (483.5)

233.3 (296.4)

290.2 (385.0)

349.9 (331.3)

442.5 (836.2)

< 0.0001b

Need indicators

 Psychological distress (≥ 3 on the GHQ-12 or ≥ 8 on Kessler 6)

17,655 (21.6%)

5396 (19.4%)

4631 (20.6%)

3836 (24.8%)

3792 (23.8%)

< 0.0001

 Poor/very poor rated general health status

3482 (4.3%)

1403 (5.1%)

873 (3.9%)

522 (3.4%)

684 (4.3%)

< 0.0001

 Presence of long-term limiting illness/health problem

22,873 (28.0%)

7965 (28.7%)

6097 (27.1%)

4354 (28.1%)

4457 (28.0%)

< 0.0001