Table 5. Characteristics of livestock veterinarians with MRSA MC398 carriage and control patients with MRSA non-MC398 carriage at the initial sampling moment.
| Characteristics | Veterinarians (n = 59) | Control patients (n = 20) | P-value |
| Age – median (IQR) | 47.0 (41.0–52.0) | 39.0 (24.3–57.8) | 0.295 |
| Male sex – no. (%) | 55/59 (93.2) | 7/20 (35.0) | <0.001 |
| Smoking – no. (%) | 10/58 (17.2) | 4/15 (26.7) | 0.467 |
| Educational levela – median (IQR) | 6.9 (7.0–7.0) | 3.6 (2.0–5.0) | <0.001 |
| Born in the Netherlands – no. (%) | 55/59 (93.2) | 15/20 (75.0) | 0.023 |
| Age of household members – median (IQR) | 16.0 (8.3–39.0) | 34.0 (15.0–52.0) | <0.001 |
| Number of household members – median (IQR) | 3.0 (2.0–4.0) | 1.5 (1.0–3.0) | 0.006 |
| Number of companion animalsb – median (IQR) | 1.0 (0.8–2.0) | 0.0 (0.0–1.0) | 0.023 |
IQR: interquartile range (p25–p75); no.: number.
A P-value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant.
a
Highest educational level is a bachelor or master title and was valued with a maximum of 7.
b
Total amount of cats and dogs in the household.