Adherence to hydroxyurea, health-related quality of life domains, and patients’ perceptions of sickle cell disease and hydroxyurea: a cross-sectional study in adolescents and young adults

Table 2 Perceptions of sickle cell disease and hydroxyurea in different patient groups (N = 34)

B-IPQ domains, median (IQR)	All (N = 34)	Age			Gender
B-IPQ domains, median (IQR)	All (N = 34)	12–17 years (n = 25)	18–22 years (n = 9)	P-value	Male (n = 20)	Female (n = 14)	P-value
Consequences	5 (1, 7)	5 (1, 7)	6 (3, 8)	0.50	3 (0, 7)	7 (4, 8)	0.15
Personal control	5 (3, 8)	5 (3, 8)	7 (6, 8)	0.04	5 (4, 9)	5 (3, 8)	0.61
Treatment control	8 (5, 10)	7 (6, 10)	9 (5, 10)	0.98	8.5 (6, 10)	7 (5, 9)	0.18
Identity (symptoms)	5 (0, 7)	5 (0, 7)	5 (1, 6)	0.81	1 (0, 6)	6 (4, 8)	0.02
Concerns	6 (2, 9)	5 (2, 9)	6 (5, 8)	0.59	5 (2, 9)	7 (4, 9)	0.55
Understanding	9 (8, 10)	8 (7, 10)	10 (9, 10)	0.09	9 (7, 10)	9.5 (8, 10)	0.52
Emotional response	3 (0, 8)	3 (0, 8)	7 (0, 10)	0.52	0.5 (0, 8)	7 (2, 8)	0.13

Data are presented as medians and inter-quartile ranges
P-value <0.05 was statistically significant (highlighted in bold)
B-IPQ brief illness perception questionnaire; IQR inter-quartile range
Higher B-IPQ scores indicated worse perceptions of sickle cell disease related consequences, identity or disease-related symptoms, concerns, and emotional response, but better perceptions of personal control, treatment control, and understanding of sickle cell disease

ISSN: 1477-7525