TY - JOUR
T1 - Numeracy of multiple sclerosis patients
T2 - A comparison of patients from the PERCEPT study to a German probabilistic sample
AU - Gaissmaier, Wolfgang
AU - Giese, Helge
AU - Galesic, Mirta
AU - Garcia-Retamero, Rocio
AU - Kasper, Juergen
AU - Kleiter, Ingo
AU - Meuth, Sven G
AU - Köpke, Sascha
AU - Heesen, Christoph
N1 - Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/1
Y1 - 2018/1
N2 - OBJECTIVE: A shared decision-making approach is suggested for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To properly evaluate benefits and risks of different treatment options accordingly, MS patients require sufficient numeracy - the ability to understand quantitative information. It is unknown whether MS affects numeracy. Therefore, we investigated whether patients' numeracy was impaired compared to a probabilistic national sample.METHODS: As part of the larger prospective, observational, multicenter study PERCEPT, we assessed numeracy for a clinical study sample of German MS patients (N=725) with a standard test and compared them to a German probabilistic sample (N=1001), controlling for age, sex, and education. Within patients, we assessed whether disease variables (disease duration, disability, annual relapse rate, cognitive impairment) predicted numeracy beyond these demographics.RESULTS: MS patients showed a comparable level of numeracy as the probabilistic national sample (68.9% vs. 68.5% correct answers, P=0.831). In both samples, numeracy was higher for men and the highly educated. Disease variables did not predict numeracy beyond demographics within patients, and predictability was generally low.CONCLUSION: This sample of MS patients understood quantitative information on the same level as the general population.PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: There is no reason to withhold quantitative information from MS patients.
AB - OBJECTIVE: A shared decision-making approach is suggested for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. To properly evaluate benefits and risks of different treatment options accordingly, MS patients require sufficient numeracy - the ability to understand quantitative information. It is unknown whether MS affects numeracy. Therefore, we investigated whether patients' numeracy was impaired compared to a probabilistic national sample.METHODS: As part of the larger prospective, observational, multicenter study PERCEPT, we assessed numeracy for a clinical study sample of German MS patients (N=725) with a standard test and compared them to a German probabilistic sample (N=1001), controlling for age, sex, and education. Within patients, we assessed whether disease variables (disease duration, disability, annual relapse rate, cognitive impairment) predicted numeracy beyond these demographics.RESULTS: MS patients showed a comparable level of numeracy as the probabilistic national sample (68.9% vs. 68.5% correct answers, P=0.831). In both samples, numeracy was higher for men and the highly educated. Disease variables did not predict numeracy beyond demographics within patients, and predictability was generally low.CONCLUSION: This sample of MS patients understood quantitative information on the same level as the general population.PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: There is no reason to withhold quantitative information from MS patients.
U2 - 10.1016/j.pec.2017.07.018
DO - 10.1016/j.pec.2017.07.018
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 28764895
SN - 0738-3991
VL - 101
SP - 74
EP - 78
JO - Patient Education and Counseling
JF - Patient Education and Counseling
IS - 1
ER -
