Characteristic Sex Male Female Not specified Age group (years) 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 ≥ 65 Not specified Home/living arrangements Live alone Live with parents Live with partner/spouse Live in shared accommodation Other Not specified Country of birth Australia Asia Europe Other Time spent in Australia ≤ 2 years 3-5 years 6-10 years >10 years Not specified Employment Unemployed Full time Casual Part-time Not specified 193 (53.6) 162 (45.0) 5 (1.4) 29 (8.1) 88 (24.4) 93 (25.8) 80 (22.2) 57 (15.8) 13 (3.6) 0 (0.0) 41 (11.4) 25 (6.9) 126 (35.0) 27 (7.5) 141 (39.2) 0 178 (49.4) 42 (11.7) 75 (20.8) 65 (18.1) 30 (8.3) 24 (6.7) 32 (8.9) 265 (73.6) 9 (2.5) 0 274 (76.1) 26 (7.2) 50 (13.9) 10 (2.8) 199 (30.8) 429 (66.4) 18 (2.8) 65 (10.1) 191 (29.6) 151 (23.4) 150 (23.2) 84 (13.0) 2 (0.3) 3 (0.5) 97 (15.0) 71 (11.0) 192 (29.7) 76 (11.8) 210 (32.5) 0 386 (59.8) 82 (12.7) 90 (13.9) 88 (13.6) 22 (3.4) 26 (4.0) 38 (5.9) 548 (84.8) 12 (1.9) 0 493 (76.3) 52 (8.0) 94 (14.6) 7 (1.1) 914 (48.7) 930 (49.6) 32 (1.7) 1393 (74.3) 363 (19.3) 65 (3.5) 38 (2.0) 11 (0.6) 1 (0.1) 5 (0.3) 116 (6.2) 846 (45.1) 197 (10.5) 516 (27.5) 101 (5.4) 100 (5.3) 928 (49.5) 628 (33.5) 149 (7.9) 171 (9.1) 311 (16.6) 206 (11.0) 117 (6.2) 1214 (64.7) 28 (1.5) 820 (43.7) 200 (10.7) 567 (30.2) 277 (14.8) 12 (0.6) 1306 (45.3) 1521 (52.8) 55 (1.9) 1487 (51.6) 642 (22.3) 309 (10.7) 268 (9.3) 152 (5.3) 16 (0.6) 8 (0.3) 254 (8.8) 942 (32.7) 515 (17.9) 619 (21.5) 452 (15.7) 100(3.4) 1492 (51.8) 752 (26.1) 314 (10.9) 324 (11.2) 363 (12.6) 256 (8.9) 187 (6.5) 2027 (70.3) 49 (1.7) 820 (28.5) 967 (33.6) 645 (22.3) 421 (14.6) 29 (1) Van et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10:130 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/130 Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the participants Page 3 of 9 Academic Staff n = 360 (%) General Staff n = 646 (%) Students n = 1876 (%) Total n = 2882 (%) Knowledge, attitude and perceptions Most respondents (99.6%, 2870/2882) reported that they had heard about the Australian pandemic situation. Whilst 60.4% (1742/2882) believed that it was serious, 40.4% (1165/2882) said that they were “not anxious” (Figure 1) and a further 23.8% (686/2882) reported “disinterest”. Of the respondents who felt they were likely to contract pan- demic influenza (42.2%, 1217/2882), 90.7% (1104/1217) believed the infection would adversely affect their health. Towards the end of the survey period and the end of win- ter, the percentage reporting “no anxiety” increased and the proportion of respondents who believed that the pan- demic was “serious” significantly decreased (OR, 0.25 [95% CI, 0.17-6.38); p < 0.001) (Figure 2). Perceptions of sus- ceptibility significantly decreased with the decline of laboratory-confirmed cases in Australia (OR, 0.72 [95% CI, 0.57-0.92]; p = 0.003). Asian-born respondents were signif- icantly more likely to believe that the pandemic was ser- ious (OR, 3.79 [95% CI, 3.16-4.55]; p < 0.001) and feel anxious (OR, 4.85 [95% CI, 2.94-8.13]; p < 0.001) com- pared with respondents from all other regions. Females were significantly more likely than males to think their health would be adversely affected (OR, 1.78 [95% CI, 1.37-2.33]; p < 0.001), and that the current situation is ser- ious (OR, 1.21 [95% CI, 1.04-1.40]; p = 0.01). Respondents aged over 55 were most likely to be anxious (OR, 2.28