Table 1.
Characteristics of the 396 Italian physicians participating in the survey on the knowledge, attitudes, and practices on nitrous oxide (N2O) abuse (Note: SD = standard deviation).
| Variable | Total (N/396, %) |
Average ± S.D. |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | ||
| Male | 145, 36.62% | |
| Female | 251, 63.38% | |
| Age (years) | 42.70 ± 9.71 | |
| Age ≥ 50 years | 63, 15.91% | |
| Seniority (years) | 16.10 ± 9.47 | |
| Seniority ≥ 20 years | 115, 29.04% | |
| Medical specialty | ||
| Internal medicine | 47, 11.87% | |
| Neurology | 60, 15.15% | |
| Emergency medicine | 31, 7.83% | |
| General practitioner | 71, 17.93% | |
| Psychiatry | 107, 27.02% | |
| Other | 80, 20.20% | |
| Living in … | ||
| Northern Italy 1 | 197, 49.75% | |
| Central Italy 2 | 115, 29.04% | |
| Southern Italy 3 | 54, 13.64% | |
| Major islands 4 | 30, 7.58% | |
| Reporting any knowledge of N2O abuse | 116, 29.04% | |
| Information source | ||
| Formation courses | 332, 83.84% | |
| Official websites | 326, 82.32% | |
| Non-official websites | 55, 13.89% | |
| Medical journals | 143, 36.11% | |
| Other healthcare workers | 225, 56.82% | |
| Social media | 43, 10.86% | |
| Friends and/or relatives | 0, - |
1 Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Veneto, Autonomous Province of Trento, Autonomous Province of Bolzano, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia, and Emilia Romagna; 2 Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, and Lazio; 3 Campania, Abruzzo, Apulia, Basilicata, and Calabria; 4 Sicily and Sardinia.