Table 4. Participant tick-borne disease experiences, attitudes, and use of preventative practices.
Survey population characteristics by state: Michigan (MI), Minnesota (MN), and Wisconsin (WI), United States, 2019*. Rao-Scott chi-squared tests were used to assess associations across states for each variable, p-values are reported.
| MI |
MN |
WI |
Total |
p-values | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (n = 866) | (%) | (n = 925) | (%) | (n = 922) | (%) | (n = 2,713) | (%) | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Tick-borne disease experiences and attitudes Perceived prevalence of tick-borne diseases | |||||||||
| Very/Extremely common | 248 | 27.2 | 244 | 20.2 | 360 | 32.4 | 852 | 24.7 | |
| Slightly/Somewhat common | 570 | 67.2 | 615 | 69.5 | 525 | 63.3 | 1710 | 67.2 | |
| Not at all common | 44 | 5.6 | 62 | 10.3 | 32 | 4.3 | 138 | 8.0 | <0.0001 |
| Perceived seriousness of Lyme disease | |||||||||
| Very/Extremely serious | 766 | 90.9 | 836 | 90.8 | 833 | 91.6 | 2435 | 91.1 | |
| Not at all/Slightly/Somewhat serious | 64 | 7.0 | 64 | 8.5 | 66 | 7.9 | 194 | 8.2 | |
| Don’t know | 12 | 2.1 | 6 | 0.7 | 6 | 0.5 | 24 | 0.7 | 0.4957 |
| Perceived likelihood of contracting a tick-borne disease in the next year | |||||||||
| Very/Extremely likely | 46 | 5.1 | 44 | 4.4 | 71 | 4.9 | 161 | 4.6 | |
| Slightly/Somewhat likely | 616 | 69.3 | 655 | 65.4 | 668 | 71.3 | 1939 | 67.6 | |
| Not at all likely | 200 | 25.6 | 223 | 30.2 | 179 | 23.8 | 602 | 27.8 | 0.0618 |
| Ever diagnosed with a tick-borne disease (self or household member) | |||||||||
| Yes | 102 | 11.6 | 180 | 17.0 | 223 | 19.4 | 505 | 17.5 | |
| No/Unknown | 764 | 88.4 | 745 | 83.0 | 699 | 80.6 | 2208 | 82.5 | 0.1015 |
| Use of preventative practices | |||||||||
| Performing a tick check on oneself ** | |||||||||
| Most of the time/Always | 634 | 72.0 | 642 | 66.5 | 650 | 70.4 | 1926 | 68.1 | |
| Never/Rarely/Sometimes | 208 | 28.0 | 263 | 33.5 | 255 | 29.6 | 726 | 31.9 | 0.1552 |
| Applying bug repellent to oneself ** | |||||||||
| Most of the time/Always | 386 | 43.6 | 371 | 41.1 | 417 | 46.5 | 1174 | 43.1 | |
| Never/Rarely/Sometimes | 456 | 56.4 | 533 | 58.9 | 487 | 53.5 | 1476 | 56.9 | 0.0784 |
| Treating property with pesticide to kill ticks | |||||||||
| Yes | 147 | 17.6 | 124 | 12.7 | 134 | 14.2 | 405 | 13.5 | |
| No/Unknown | 719 | 82.4 | 800 | 87.3 | 787 | 85.8 | 2306 | 86.5 | 0.2917 |
| Treating property with devices that kill ticks on rodents *** | |||||||||
| Yes | 23 | 2.7 | 28 | 2.7 | 39 | 4.0 | 90 | 3.1 | |
| No/Unknown | 842 | 97.3 | 893 | 97.3 | 878 | 96.0 | 2613 | 96.9 | 0.2254 |
*
Values are unweighted frequencies and weighted percentages, unless otherwise indicated. Totals exclude participants who preferred not to answer or those who skipped the question.
**
Only among participants who spent time in places with ticks from April through October.
***
Devices that apply pesticides to rodents to kill ticks (e.g., Damminix or Thermacell tick tubes).