TABLE 2.
Characteristics for the complete sample and self‐rated risk groups
| Total (n = 633) | Self‐rated risk | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lower than others (n = 200) | Average (n = 379) | Higher than others (n = 54) | ||||||
| Framingham variables | n or mean | % or SD | n or mean | % or SD | n or mean | % or SD | n or mean | % or SD |
| Age | 70.7 | 9.1 | 71.1 | 8.6 | 70.8 | 9.2 | 69.2 | 10.8 |
| Male | 349 | 55.1 | 112 | 56.0 | 199 | 52.5 | 38 | 70.4 |
| Smoking (yes) | 67 | 10.6 | 17 | 8.5 | 42 | 11.1 | 8 | 14.8 |
| BMI (kg/cm2) | 29.8 | 5.0 | 30.2 | 4.90 | 30.1 | 4.93 | 29.1 | 5.15 |
| Blood pressure treatment (yes) | 502 | 79.3 | 141 | 70.5 | 313 | 82.6 | 48 | 88.9 |
| Systolic blood pressure (mmHg) | 132.4 | 15.8 | 132.1 | 16.0 | 132.2 | 15.3 | 137.8 | 20.5 |
| Framingham risk (%) | 45.3 | 18.5 | 43.7 | 17.1 | 45.3 | 18.8 | 51.5 | 20.1 |
| Covariates | ||||||||
| >10 years of schooling | 260 | 41.1 | 94 | 47.2 | 150 | 39.6 | 16 | 29.6 |
| Insulin therapy (yes) | 127 | 20.1 | 36 | 18.2 | 76 | 20.1 | 15 | 27.8 |
| D. education (yes) | 336 | 53.7 | 94 | 47.2 | 206 | 55.2 | 36 | 66.7 |
| MI history (yes) | 66 | 10.4 | 18 | 9.00 | 32 | 8.4 | 16 | 29.6 |
| Self‐management | ||||||||
| Self‐monitoring of body weight (≥1 per week = 1) | 352 | 55.9 | 123 | 61.8 | 197 | 52.3 | 32 | 59.3 |
| Wound checking (≥1 per week = 1) | 348 | 55.9 | 116 | 58.9 | 200 | 53.8 | 32 | 59.3 |
| Self‐monitoring of blood sugar (≥1 per week = 1 or ≥ daily when treated with insulin = 1) | 235 | 40.8 | 76 | 41.3 | 140 | 41.1 | 19 | 37.3 |
| Self‐monitoring of blood pressure (≥1 per week = 1) | 305 | 48.8 | 100 | 50.8 | 180 | 48.1 | 25 | 46.3 |
| Keeping a diabetes diary (yes = 1) | 171 | 27.6 | 50 | 25.4 | 107 | 28.8 | 14 | 26.9 |
| Having a diet plan (yes = 1) | 57 | 9.2 | 20 | 10.2 | 30 | 8.2 | 7 | 13.2 |
| Self‐management score (0‐6) | 2.3 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 1.6 |
Note: The variables used for calculating the Framingham risk were essential to our study. Within the 633 individuals who self‐rated their comparative MI risk, we found 67 missing values for systolic blood pressure, 3 missing values for smoking status, and 11 missing values for BMI. In order to avoid loss of power for our analysis, we decided to apply a predictive mean matching approach, as introduced by Little 32 within the variables that were relevant to the calculation of the Framingham risk. The imputation was performed with the R package “Mice”. 33 The self‐management score was composed by adding the six self‐managing behaviors into a single score, in which one point was attributed per criterion in every individual (See Methods).
Abbreviations: D. education, diabetes education program (yes); MI, myocardial infarction.