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. 2025 Sep 10;12:1578575. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1578575

Table 2.

Distribution of participant characteristics across PRU clusters.

Characteristics [ALL] N = 124 [Cluster 1] High anxiety and concern (N = 53) [Cluster 2] Low anxiety and concern (N = 27) [Cluster 3] High anxiety, low concern (N = 44) p-value
Age, years 28.0 [26.0; 31.0] 28.0 [26.0;30.0] 29.0 [27.0;32.0] 27.0 [25.0;30.2] 0.047
Sex 0.380
Female 65 (52.4%) 32 (49.2%) 13 (20.0%) 20 (30.8%)
Male 58 (46.8%) 21 (36.2%) 14 (24.1%) 23 (39.7%)
No answer 1 (0.81%) 0 (0.00%) 0 (0.00%) 1 (100%)
Country region 0.713
Midwest 16 (12.9%) 6 (37.5%) 2 (12.5%) 8 (50.0%)
Northeast 21 (16.9%) 7 (33.3%) 7 (33.3%) 7 (33.3%)
North 3 (2.42%) 2 (66.7%) 0 (0.00%) 1 (33.3%)
Southeast 47 (37.9%) 21 (44.7%) 12 (25.5%) 14 (29.8%)
South 37 (29.8%) 17 (45.9%) 6 (16.2%) 14 (37.8%)
Time for graduation to residence, years 2.00 [1.00; 3.00] 1.00 [1.00; 2.00] 2.00 [1.00; 3.00] 1.00 [1.00; 2.00] 0.046
Current year of residence 0.054
R1 61 (49.2%) 29 (47.5%) 8 (13.1%) 24 (39.3%)
R2 34 (27.4%) 15 (44.1%) 7 (20.6%) 12 (35.3%)
R3 29 (23.4%) 9 (31.0%) 12 (41.4%) 8 (27.6%)
Previous graduation in healthcare 0.422
No 117 (94.4%) 51 (43.6%) 24 (20.5%) 42 (35.9%)
Yes 7 (5.65%) 2 (28.6%) 3 (42.9%) 2 (28.6%)
Previous medical residency 0.055
No 114 (91.9%) 49 (43.0%) 22 (19.3%) 43 (37.7%)
Yes 10 (8.06%) 4 (40.0%) 5 (50.0%) 1 (10.0%)
PRU Scores
TOTAL 49.0 [41.0; 57.0] 58.0 [52.0; 61.0] 35.0 [30.0; 41.5] 46.0 [41.0; 48.2] <0.001
D1 21.0 [17.8; 23.0] 22.0 [20.0; 24.0] 13.0 [11.0; 14.0] 21.0 [19.0; 23.0] <0.001
D2 12.0 [8.75; 14.0] 14.0 [13.0; 16.0] 8.00 [4.50; 8.50] 10.0 [8.75; 13.0] <0.001
D3 13.0 [9.75; 17.0] 17.0 [15.0; 19.0] 12.0 [9.50; 16.0] 10.0 [9.00; 12.0] <0.001
D4 3.00 [2.00; 5.00] 3.00 [2.00; 6.00] 3.00 [2.00; 4.00] 3.00 [2.00; 4.00] 0.149

Distribution of sociodemographic, academic, and PRU-related variables across the different clusters identified in the study. For categorical variables, the table presents the proportion of participants within each subgroup allocated to each cluster (row percentages). The p-values correspond to the Kruskal–Wallis test for comparing continuous variables and the chi-squared test for comparing the distribution of categorical variables. R1, first year of residence; R2, second year of residence; R3, third year of residence; PRU, Physicians’ Reactions to Uncertainty; D1, anxiety from uncertainty; D2, concern about bad outcomes; D3, reluctance to disclose uncertainty to patients; D4, reluctance to disclose mistakes to other physicians.