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. 2019 Nov 18;11(11):2814. doi: 10.3390/nu11112814

Table 9.

Attitudes toward consulting and reporting about adverse events related to sexual enhancement (males)/weight loss (females) supplements.

Had Experienced Adverse Events p-Value Never Experienced Adverse Events 1 p-Value
Sexual Enhancement (163 Males) Weight Loss (121 Females) Sexual Enhancement (763 Males) Weight Loss (866 Females)
Not consult with anybody 58.3 65.3 0.231 45.0 25.3 <0.001
 It is too embarrassing 2 44.2 12.7 <0.001 38.5 10.0 <0.001
 It is too much hassle 2 36.8 41.8 0.507 52.8 59.8 0.101
 The symptom is temporal 2 51.6 53.2 0.835 14.3 31.5 <0.001
 I can endure the cost of the effect 2 11.6 20.3 0.116 9.9 10.0 0.959
 Others 2 2.1 10.1 0.024 5.5 9.1 0.102
Ask or complain to the manufacturer 8.0 5.8 0.476 20.1 35.2 <0.001
Ask or complain to the retail store 12.9 9.1 0.318 11.3 16.4 0.003
Consult with a partner 9.2 6.9
Consult with family members, friends, relatives or colleagues 12.9 10.7 0.583 5.5 21.9 <0.001
Report the incident to governmental agencies 3 9.8 3.3 0.034 2.1 1.3 0.192
Report the incident to a public health center 6.1 5.8 0.902 3.9 7.2 0.005
Consult with a doctor (clinic) 1.2 3.3 0.228 24.8 30.7 0.008
Write on a message board or review site 4.3 3.3 0.669 4.7 7.0 0.048
Write on social media 2.5 1.7 0.643 2.2 3.5 0.137
Others 0.6 1.7 0.397 0.9 0.7 0.611

Note: Multiple answers, expressed as percentage. The differences among gender groups were examined by Chi-square test (p < 0.05). 1 Asked on the assumption that adverse events like palpitation or shortness of breath occurred. 2 Exclusively asked to those who answered “not consult with anybody”; the number of each group was as follows: Had experienced adverse events in males, 89; in females, 72; never experienced adverse events in males, 343; in females, 219. 3 Governmental agencies include the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Consumer Affairs Agency, the Government of Japan, the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, and other consumer centers.