Table 1.
Characteristics of Patients Predicted to Be Using Proxies for SM Communication
| Totala (n = 9633) | Predicted proxy SM use: “none,” “low,” or “high” (0%, ≥ 0–50%, ≥ 50–100%)b | p value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “None” (n = 5133) | “Low” (n = 3967) | “High” (n = 533) | |||
| Age (mean, SD) | 57.2 ± 10.1 | 56.2 ± 9.8 | 57.4 ± 10.1 | 66.5 ± 8.1 | < 0.001 |
| Women | 4531 (47.0) | 2354 (45.9) | 1802 (45.4) | 375 (70.4) | < 0.001 |
| Race | < 0.001 | ||||
| White | 2833 (29.4) | 1415 (27.6) | 1315 (33.1) | 103 (19.3) | |
| Black | 1403 (14.6) | 776 (15.1) | 567 (14.3) | 60 (11.3) | |
| Hispanic | 1397 (14.5) | 712 (13.9) | 556 (14.0) | 129 (24.2) | |
| Asian | 2944 (30.6) | 1680 (32.7) | 1101 (27.8) | 163 (30.6) | |
| Other | 1053 (10.9) | 548 (10.7) | 427 (10.8) | 78 (14.6) | |
| Unknown | 3 (0.0) | 2 (0.0) | 1 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Income | < 0.001 | ||||
| < $50,000 | 2865 (34.5) | 1432 (32.1) | 1143 (33.1) | 290 (71.8) | |
| $50,000–80,000 | 2335 (28.1) | 1312 (29.4) | 960 (27.8) | 63 (15.6) | |
| ≥ $80,000 | 3115 (37.5) | 1714 (38.4) | 1350 (39.1) | 51 (12.6) | |
| Education | < 0.001 | ||||
| No degree | 997 (10.5) | 438 (8.7) | 395 (10.1) | 164 (31.6) | |
| GED/high school | 2483 (26.2) | 1244 (24.6) | 1060 (27.1) | 179 (34.5) | |
| Some college or more | 6012 (63.3) | 3375 (66.7) | 2461 (62.8) | 176 (33.9) | |
| Limited English proficiencyb | 335 (4.0) | 155 (3.5) | 111 (3.2) | 69 (16.1) | < 0.001 |
| Health literacy score (mean, SD)c | 4.41 ± 0.73 | 4.44 ± 0.70 | 4.43 ± 0.72 | 3.83 ± 0.99 | < 0.001 |
| Comorbidity score (Charlson index) | 2.34 ± 1.72 | 2.18 ± 1.62 | 2.35 ± 1.67 | 3.78 ± 2.24 | < 0.001 |
| Number of chronic medications (past year) | 5.49 ± 3.18 | 5.16 ± 3.09 | 5.68 ± 3.15 | 7.28 ± 3.62 | < 0.001 |
| Insulin use (past year) | 3015 (31.3) | 1545 (30.1) | 1265 (31.9) | 205 (38.5) | 0.001 |
| Dementiad | 80 (0.8) | 24 (0.5) | 32 (0.8) | 24 (4.5) | < 0.001 |
| HbA1c | 7.52 ± 1.53 | 7.55 ± 1.53 | 7.49 ± 1.54 | 7.40 ± 1.53 | 0.009 |
| Diabetes duration (mean, years) | 9.81 ± 8.47 | 9.21 ± 8.06 | 10.20 ± 8.71 | 12.71 ± 9.72 | < 0.001 |
| Diabetes knowledgee (range 0–5) | 2.55 ± 1.81 | 2.59 ± 1.82 | 2.63 ± 1.78 | 1.63 ± 1.73 | < 0.001 |
| Severe hypoglycemic episodes (past year)f | < 0.001 | ||||
| ≥ 12 | 26 (0.3) | 8 (0.2) | 14 (0.4) | 4 (1.1) | |
| 7–11 | 33 (0.4) | 17 (0.4) | 11 (0.3) | 5 (1.4) | |
| 4–6 | 101 (1.3) | 62 (1.5) | 37 (1.1) | 2 (0.6) | |
| 1–3 | 604 (7.6) | 295 (7.0) | 274 (8.2) | 35 (9.8) | |
| 0 or none | 7159 (90.4) | 3852 (91.0) | 2995 (89.9) | 312 (87.2) | |
| No. outpatient visits (past year) | 9.69 ± 9.91 | 8.88 ± 9.51 | 10.21 ± 10.0 | 13.57 ± 11.5 | < 0.001 |
| No. ED visits (past year) | 0.43 ± 1.05 | 0.35 ± 0.94 | 0.44 ± 1.04 | 1.09 ± 1.69 | < 0.001 |
| No. inpatient visits (past year) | 0.20 ± 0.65 | 0.15 ± 0.56 | 0.21 ± 0.67 | 0.53 ± 1.10 | < 0.001 |
aPatients with SMs authored by registered proxy users (n = 223) are not included
bFrequency of proxy use was categorized as “none,” “low,” and “high” (0%, 0–50%, ≥ 50%, respectively), of a patient’s total SMs that were either predicted by the NLP-proxy algorithm as likely written by a proxy or were written by a registered proxy
cDISTANCE Q26. Respondents were asked “How often do you have difficulty understanding or speaking English? Responses were dichotomized as Limited English Proficient (LEP) (“Always,” “Often,” and “Sometimes”) and English Proficient (“Rarely” and “Never”)
dThe Health Literacy scores were computed by taking the mean of four self-reported HL measures (DISTANCE Q113-116)
eICD 9 medical chart diagnosis of dementia
fRespondents were asked 5 questions regarding basic diabetes knowledge. Each correct answer received 1 pt. for total score ranging 0 to 5 (DISTANCE Q118-122)
gRespondents were asked: “In the past year, how many times have you had a severe low blood sugar reaction such as passing out or needing help to treat the reaction? (DISTANCE Q170)