Table 3.

Associations between patient characteristics and opinions. Please see the appendix for detailed responses. Scales are scored from 1–5, with 1 representing no importance, bother, interest, or no increased acceptable risk; 5 = extremely important, bothered, interested, and a 20% increased risk. Values represent means and standard deviations, but P values are based on the Mann-Whitney U or the Kruskal-Wallis as appropriate.

Characteristic	Importance	Feel about current scars*	Interest in surgery with no scars	Even if increased risk of infection	How much additional risk	Importance of research	Importance of shorter recovery time
Age in years
≤29	2.7 (1.1)	1.9 (1.1)	3.3 (1.4)	1.6 (0.9)	1.9 (0.9)	2.9 (1.3)	3.9 (1.1)
30–49	2.6 (1.3)	2.1 (1.2)	3.3 (1.2)	1.9 (1.1)	2.0 (1.1)	3.1 (1.2)	3.9 (1.1)
50+	1.8 (1.2)	1.6 (1.0)	2.8 (1.3)	1.6 (1.0)	1.6 (1.0)	2.7 (1.3)	3.7 (1.2)
P value	<0.001	<0.001	0.001	0.036	0.003	0.040	0.537
Sex
Female	2.4 (1.3)	2.1 (1.2)	3.1 (1.3)	1.8 (1.1)	1.9 (1.1)	2.9 (1.3)	3.8 (1.1)
Male	1.7 (1.1)	1.4 (0.8)	2.8 (1.3)	1.6 (0.9)	1.6 (0.8)	2.7 (1.2)	3.7 (1.2)
P value	<0.001	<0.001	0.021	0.192	0.059	0.084	0.363
BMI Category
Healthy	2.4 (1.3)	1.8 (1.0)	3.1 (1.3)	1.8 (1.1)	2.0 (1.2)	3.0 (1.2)	3.8 (1.1)
Overweight	2.1 (1.2)	1.9 (1.2)	2.9 (1.3)	1.6 (0.9)	1.7 (0.9)	2.8 (1.3)	3.7 (1.0)
Obese	1.8 (1.1)	1.6 (1.0)	2.9 (1.2)	1.6 (1.0)	1.6 (0.9)	2.6 (1.3)	3.7 (1.3)
P value	0.001	0.123	0.297	0.272	0.253	0.066	0.786
Abdominal Scar
No	2.3 (1.3)	—	3.1 (1.3)	1.7 (0.9)	1.8 (0.9)	3.0 (1.2)	3.9 (1.1)
Yes	2.0 (1.2)	1.8 (1.1)	2.8 (1.3)	1.7 (1.1)	1.7 (1.1)	2.8 (1.3)	3.7 (1.1)
P value	0.071	—	0.049	0.431	0.203	0.222	0.104
Other Scar
No	2.0 (1.2)	—	2.9 (1.3)	1.7 (1.0)	1.7 (0.9)	2.8 (1.3)	3.8 (1.1)
Yes	2.1 (1.3)	1.9 (1.2)	3.0 (1.3)	1.7 (1.1)	1.8 (1.1)	2.9 (1.3)	3.8 (1.2)
P value	0.527	—	0.416	0.964	0.939	0.275	0.740

*Responses are based on the subset with scars.