Table 2.
Beliefs in Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) scale responses by age groupa and respondent
|
BMQ Scale |
|
Na |
Mean (SD) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |
|
|
Child |
Young Adult |
Adult |
Parent of Child |
| Age 10–17 N=49 | Age 18–24 N=75 | Age 25+ N=156 | Age 5–16 N=104 | |||
| Specific Necessity–DFOb |
132 |
21.0 (3.3) |
20.5 (3.4) |
21.6 (3.7) |
21.3 (3.1) |
|
| Specific Concerns–DFOc |
131 |
14.4 (5.0) |
12.1 (4.2) |
12.9 (3.5) |
16.7 (2.8) |
|
| Specific Necessity-Oral Chelatorb |
256 |
19.0 (3.9) |
20.2 (3.9) |
20.9 (3.8) |
21.4 (3.4) |
|
| Specific Concerns-Oral Chelatorc |
256 |
10.8 (3.6) |
11.8 (3.9) |
12.2 (3.6) |
13.0 (4.0) |
|
| General Overused |
375 |
11.6 (2.5) |
11.8 (2.8) |
11.8 (2.8) |
12.2 (2.9) |
|
| General Harme |
380 |
9.5 (2.4) |
9.3 (2.7) |
8.9 (2.8) |
9.6 (3.2) |
|
| General Benefitf |
378 |
15.6 (2.3) |
15.7 (2.1) |
15.9 (2.4) |
16.3 (2.2) |
|
| Sensitive Somag |
379 |
11.3 (3.9) |
11.4 (3.8) |
12.0 (3.9) |
11.7 (3.7) |
|
|
Comparison of DFO vs. Oral Chelation across age groups | ||||||
| BMQ Scale |
Specific Necessity |
Specific Concerns |
General Overuse |
General Harm |
General Benefit |
Sensitive Soma |
| p-valueh | 0.30 | <0.001 | 0.08 | 0.20 | 0.08 | <0.001 |
a includes 13 parent/child pairs of responses from the same family.
b 5 items measuring how necessary participants perceive chelation to be. Higher scores indicate higher perceived necessity (0–25 points). Participants on both DFO and oral chelation responded separately for each chelator.
c 5 items measuring participants’ concerns with chelation. Higher scores indicate higher levels of concern (0–25 points). Participants on both DFO and oral chelation responded separately for each chelator.
d 4 items measuring beliefs that doctors tend to overuse and trust medicines too much. Higher scores indicate higher levels of this belief in the overuse of medicines (0–20 points).
e 4 items measuring beliefs that medicines tend to be harmful, addictive, and poisonous. Higher scores indicate higher levels of this belief in the harm of medicines (0–20 points).
f 4 items measuring beliefs that medicines are helpful and make people live longer better lives. Higher scores indicate higher levels of this belief in the benefit of medicines (0–20 points).
g 5 items measuring perceptions of personal sensitivity to the potential adverse effects of medication. Higher scores indicate higher levels of this perception of sensitivity to medicines (0–25 points).
h Across all ages and respondents, t-test for DFO vs. oral chelation, excluding participants on both. Participants on DFO compared to oral chelation report belief in slightly higher General Overuse (12.4 vs. 11.8) and General Harm (9.4 vs. 9.0), slightly lower General Benefit (15.6 vs. 16.1), and significantly higher Sensitive Soma (12.9 vs. 11.1).