Table 1.

Characteristics of the study sample.

Characteristics		Patients with aortic dissection (n=27), n (%)	Relatives of patients with aortic dissection (n=8), n (%)	Health professionals (n=6), n (%)	All subjects (n=41), n (%)
Gender
	Male	21 (84)	0 (0)	4 (67)	25 (69)
	Female	4 (16)	5 (100)	2 (33)	11 (31)
	No responsea	2	3	N/Ab	5
Age (years)
	<30	1 (4)	0 (0)	2 (33)	3 (7)
	30-39	0 (0)	1 (13)	0 (0)	1 (2)
	40-49	3 (11)	0 (0)	3 (50)	6 (15)
	50-59	7 (26)	2 (25)	1 (17)	10 (24)
	60-69	10 (37)	4 (50)	0 (0)	14 (34)
	>69	6 (22)	1 (13)	0 (0)	7 (17)
Language
	German	26 (96)	8 (100)	6 (100)	40 (98)
	French	1 (4)	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (2)
Number of other patients with aortic dissection in contact with in a year
	None	17 (68)	2 (25)	1 (17)	20 (51)
	1-3 patients	8 (32)	6 (75)	2 (33)	16 (41)
	4-8 patients	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
	9-19 patients	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)
	20-40 patients	0 (0)	0 (0)	1 (17)	1 (3)
	≥40 patients	0 (0)	0 (0)	2 (33)	2 (5)
	No responsea	2	N/A	N/A	2

^aWhere participants did not respond to a question, they were not counted in the percentage calculations.

^bN/A: not applicable.