Comparison of Patients Who Visited a Health Care Provider With Those Who Did Not (Student’s t Test)
| Contact Family Physician | Contact Specialist | Contact Alternative Health Practitioner | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Yes (n=417 Mean (SD) | No (n=84) Mean (SD) | PValue | Yes (n=85) Mean (SD) | No (n=416) Mean (SD) | PValue | Yes (n=26) Mean (SD) | No (n=475) Mean (SD) | PValue |
| DLQI = Dermatological Life Quality Index; ISDL = Impact of Skin Disease on Daily Life. | |||||||||
| a 0 = male, 1 = female, compared through Pearson’s χ2. | |||||||||
| b As measured by ISDL, range, 9–36. | |||||||||
| c Assessed with visual analogue scales: 0 = no itch/pain/fatigue; 10 = worst itch/pain/fatigue ever experienced. | |||||||||
| d Higher scores indicate lower disease-related quality of life. | |||||||||
| Age | 49.7 (17.5) | 49.7 (15.1) | NS | 50.1 (19.2) | 49.6 (16.7) | NS | 40.3 (13.3) | 50.2 (17.1) | <.01 |
| Sexa | 0.6 (0.5) | 0.6 (0.5) | NS | 0.7 (0.5) | 0.6 (0.5) | NS | 0.8 (0.4) | 0.6 (0.5) | NS |
| Educational level | 4.3 (2.0) | 4.2 (2.0) | NS | 4.2 (2.0) | 4.3 (2.0) | NS | 4.8 (2.0) | 4.3 (2.0) | NS |
| Disease severityb | 12.5 (2.8) | 11.2 (2.4) | <.01 | 13.3 (3.3) | 12.1 (2.6) | <.01 | 14.0 (3.1) | 12.2 (2.7) | <.01 |
| Disease duration, years | 16.7 (15.6) | 17.7 (14.7) | NS | 15.6 (17.6) | 17.1 (15.0) | NS | 21.3 (14.4) | 16.1 (15.5) | NS |
| Itchc | 3.4 (2.7) | 2.0 (2.3) | <.01 | 3.9 (3.0) | 3.0 (2.6) | <.05 | 4.8 (2.8) | 3.0 (2.6) | <.01 |
| Painc | 1.6 (2.0) | 1.2 (1.7) | <.05 | 1.9 (2.2) | 1.5 (1.9) | NS | 2.7 (2.7) | 1.5 (1.9) | <.05 |
| Fatiguec | 3.2 (2.8) | 2.5 (2.6) | <.05 | 3.3 (3.0) | 3.1 (2.8) | NS | 4.3 (2.8) | 3.0 (2.8) | <.05 |
| DLQId | 4.3 (4.9) | 2.4 (3.8) | <.01 | 5.6 (5.6) | 3.7 (4.5) | <.01 | 10.3 (7.3) | 3.7 (4.3) | <.01 |