Table 2. Self-care behavior stratified by four patient groups based on the presence and/or absence of knowledge about the self-limited disease course and subjective discomfort during the last common cold (n = 2,204).
| Group 1 ☺ | Group 2 | Group 3 | Group 4 ☹ | p-value | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (+) knowledge (-) discomfort | (-) knowledge (-) discomfort | (+) knowledge (+) discomfort | (-) knowledge (+) discomfort | ||||||
| Group size, n, % | 510 | 23.1 | 138 | 6.3 | 894 | 40.6 | 662 | 30.0 | |
| Group characteristics | |||||||||
| Age, mean | 48.4±17.29 | 48.7±16.41 | 46.1±16.27 | 45.2±15.75 | <0.01 | ||||
| Gender: female, % | 54.9 | 56.0 | 63.7 | 68.1 | <0.001* | ||||
| Years of school (including higher education), mean | 13.3±4.16 | 10.7±4.82 | 13.3±4.39 | 12.3±4.52 | <0.001* | ||||
| Mean total use | 8.8±5.50 | 11.1±6.30 | 11.9±6.45 | 13.3±7.39 | <0.001* | ||||
| Spectrum on mode of application level: at least 1 in % | |||||||||
| n | % | n | % | n | % | n | % | ||
| Foodstuffs | 465 | 91.2 | 131 | 94.9 | 860 | 96.2 | 643 | 97.1 | <0.001* |
| Intestinal absorption | 358 | 70.2 | 97 | 70.3 | 775 | 86.7 | 543 | 82.0 | <0.001* |
| Extras at home | 48 | 65.5 | 15 | 74.6 | 107 | 85.3 | 114 | 87.0 | <0.001* |
| Intranasal use | 235 | 46.1 | 58 | 42.0 | 521 | 58.3 | 350 | 52.9 | <0.001* |
| Inhalation | 155 | 30.4 | 57 | 41.3 | 321 | 35.9 | 261 | 39.4 | <0.01 |
| Local oral effects | 138 | 27.1 | 48 | 34.8 | 339 | 37.9 | 247 | 37.3 | <0.001* |
| Topical use in throat | 124 | 24.3 | 50 | 36.2 | 289 | 32.3 | 282 | 42.6 | <0.001* |
| External use | 334 | 9.4 | 103 | 10.9 | 763 | 12.0 | 576 | 17.2 | <0.001* |
| Mean use of items per mode of application group | |||||||||
| Foodstuffs | 4.2±3.25 | 5.7±3.64 | 5.1±3.54 | 6.1±3.99 | <0.001* | ||||
| Intestinal absorption | 1.4±1.30 | 1.5±1.47 | 2.1±1.59 | 2.1±1.74 | <0.001* | ||||
| Extras at home | 1.5±1.55 | 1.9±1.71 | 2.3±1.80 | 2.5±1.85 | <0.001* | ||||
| Intranasal use | 0.5±0.66 | 0.5±0.65 | 0.7±0.74 | 0.6±0.69 | <0.001* | ||||
| Inhalation# | 0.5±0.78 | 0.6±0.78 | 0.6±0.93 | 0.6±1.03 | 0.011 | ||||
| Local oral effects# | 0.4±0.69 | 0.5±0.75 | 0.6±0.88 | 0.5±0.81 | <0.001* | ||||
| Topical use in throat# | 0.3±0.52 | 0.4±0.57 | 0.4±0.56 | 0.5±0.65 | <0.001* | ||||
| External use# | 0.1±0.36 | 0.1±0.34 | 0.1±0.41 | 0.2±0.48 | <0.001* | ||||
| Mean use of pharmaceutical vs. non-pharmaceutical products | |||||||||
| Non-pharmaceutical products | 8.1±5.36 | 10.5±6.09 | 10.9±6.29 | 12.4±7.06 | <0.001* | ||||
| Pharmaceutical products | 0.7±0.78 | 0.6±0.77 | 1.0±0.87 | 0.8±0.88 | <0.001* | ||||
| Ratio pharmaceuticals /non-pharmaceuticals# | 1:6.7 | 1:10.0 | 1:9.1 | 1:10.1 | <0.001* | ||||
| Mean use of self-care with evidence base vs. self-care without evidence base | |||||||||
| Without evidence base | 7.9±5.3 | 10.4±6.1 | 10.7±6.3 | 12.2±7.0 | <0.001* | ||||
| With evidence base | 0.9±0.9 | 0.7±0.9 | 1.3±1.0 | 1.0±1.0 | <0.001* | ||||
| Ratio pharmaceuticals /non-pharmaceuticals# | 1:6.1 | 1:9.6 | 1:7.8 | 1:9.6 | <0.001* | ||||
#Kruskal-Wallis test
*Significant after correcting for multiple testing using the Benjamini & Hochberg procedure