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Table 3 Comparison of the characteristics and the rates of surviving to hospital discharge between “ Patients ” and “ Stories

From: The over-optimistic portrayal of life-supporting treatments in newspapers and on the Internet: a cross-sectional study using extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation as an example

 

Stories on the Internet(n = 237)

p valuea

Patients(n = 83)

p valueb

Stories in newspapers(n = 182)

Age c

33.37 ± 21.62

0.55

31.68 ± 22.72

0.32

28.75 ± 21.75

Length of ECMO use by day d

15.65 ± 26.95

0.13

10.57 ± 16.08

0.37

12.87 ± 18.91

Length of ICU stay by day e

16.90 ± 16.91

0.24

13.67 ± 15.80

0.83

14.21 ± 14.04

Length of hospital stay by day f

38.69 ± 50.61

0.81

36.86 ± 56.41

0.44

31.72 ± 38.19

Gender g

 

0.94

 

0.50

 

Male

146 (63.76%)

 

50 (63.29%)

 

107 (58.79%)

Female

83 (36.24%)

 

29 (36.71%)

 

75 (41.21%)

Hospital location

 

< 0.01

 

0.97

 

Urban

190 (80.17%)

 

54 (65.06%)

 

118 (64.84%)

Rural

47 (19.83%)

 

29 (34.94%)

 

64 (36.16%)

Level of hospital h

 

< 0.01

 

0.54

 

Medical center

168 (70.89%)

 

45 (54.88%)

 

106 (58.89%)

Non-medical center

69 (29.11%)

 

37 (45.12%)

 

74 (41.11%)

Primary reason for ECMO use

 

0.14

 

0.88

 

Cardiac

127 (53.59%)

 

40 (48.19%)

 

93 (51.10%)

Pulmonary

95 (40.08%)

 

32 (38.55%)

 

68 (37.36%)

Others

15 (6.33%)

 

11 (13.25%)

 

21 (11.54%)

Status at hospital discharge

 

< 0.01

 

0.19

 

Alive

199 (83.97%)

 

58 (69.88%)

 

112 (61.54%)

Dead

38 (16.03%)

 

25 (30.12%)

 

70 (38.46%)

  1. Abbreviations list: ECMO extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation, ICU intensive care unit.
  2. Interpretations of “Status at hospital discharge”: 58 (69.88%) patients survived to hospital discharge, and 199 (83.97%) stories on the Internet survived to hospital discharge. The p value (<0.01) is significant. That is, the survival of ECMO patients on the Internet is over-optimistic.
  3. aThe p value of the comparisons between patients (n = 83) and stories on the Internet (n = 237).
  4. bThe p value of the comparisons between patients (n = 83) and stories in newspapers (n = 182).
  5. c“Age”: stories on the Internet = 6 missing values; patients = 3 missing values.
  6. d“Length of ECMO use by day”: stories on the Internet = 20 missing values; patients = 11 missing values; stories in newspapers = 9 missing values.
  7. e“Length of ICU stay by day”: stories on the Internet = 92 missing values; patients = 35 missing values; stories in newspapers = 66 missing values.
  8. f“Length of hospital stay by day”: stories on the Internet = 71 missing values; patients = 20 missing values; stories in newspapers = 28 missing values.
  9. g“Gender”: stories on the Internet = 8 missing values; patients = 4 missing values.
  10. h“Level of hospital”: patients = 1 missing value; stories on the Internet = 1 missing value; stories in newspaprts = 2 missing values.