Assessing the current situation and the influencing factors affecting perceived stigma among older patients after leukemia diagnosis

Table 1 General demographic data of older patients with leukemia

Items	Groups	Frequency	%
Age (yr)	65-75	50	41.7
	> 75	70	58.3
Sex	Male	53	44.2
	Female	67	55.8
Marital status	Single	6	5.0
	Married	89	74.2
	Divorced/widowed	25	20.8
Education level	Junior high school and below	33	27.5
	High school or technical secondary school	44	36.7
	College or above	43	35.8
Smoking	No	78	65.0
	Yes	42	35.0
Drinking	No	51	42.5
	Yes	69	57.5
Medical history	No	62	51.7
	Yes	58	48.3
Average monthly family income (CNY)	< 3000	29	24.2
	3000-5000	49	40.8
	> 5000	42	35.0
Pension	No	67	55.8
	Yes	53	44.2
Leukemia type	Chronic	34	28.3
	Acute	86	71.7
Family history	No	89	74.2
	Yes	31	25.8
Tendency to conceal illness	No	47	39.2
	Yes	73	60.8

Table 2 Social Impact Scale score

Scale	Item	Score range	Score
Social exclusion dimension	7	7-28	13.82 ± 2.41
Social isolation dimension	3	3-12	7.32 ± 1.33
Internal shame dimension	8	8-32	22.47 ± 2.97
SIS-total	18	18-72	43.60 ± 4.07

SIS: Social Impact Scale.

Table 3 Perceived Social Support Scale, Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, and Self-Rating Depression Scale scores

Scale	Item	Score range	Score
Family support dimension	4	4-28	14.23 ± 1.83
Friend support dimension	4	4-28	12.05 ± 1.53
Other support dimension	4	4-28	10.78 ± 1.91
PSSS-total	12	12-84	37.06 ± 2.87
SAS-total	20	20-80	58.35 ± 8.32
SDS-total	20	20-80	60.58 ± 5.97

PSSS: Perceived Social Support Scale; SAS: Self-Rating Anxiety Scale; SDS: Self-Rating Depression Scale.

Table 4 Univariate analysis

Variable	n	SIS-total	t/F	P value
Age (a)			-4.006	< 0.05
65-75	50	41.94 ± 3.61
> 75	70	44.79 ± 3.99
Sex			-1.030	0.305
Male	53	43.17 ± 3.78
Female	67	43.94 ± 4.29
Marital status			1.053	0.352
Single	6	42.00 ± 3.90
Married	89	43.90 ± 4.28
Divorced/widowed	25	42.92 ± 3.23
Education level			4.231	0.0171
Junior high school and below	33	42.37 ± 3.27
High school or technical secondary school	44	43.73 ± 3.94
College or above	43	45.03 ± 4.75
Smoking			-3.865	< 0.05
No	78	42.60 ± 3.81
Yes	42	45.45 ± 3.93
Drinking			-1.393	0.166
No	51	43.00 ± 3.82
Yes	69	44.04 ± 4.22
Medical history			0.259	0.796
No	62	43.69 ± 4.40
Yes	58	43.50 ± 3.72
Average monthly family income (CNY)			4.522	0.0131
< 3000	29	42.48 ± 3.81
3000-5000	49	43.53 ± 3.72
> 5000	42	45.34 ± 4.51
Pension			3.176	0.002
No	67	44.61 ± 4.25
Yes	53	42.32 ± 3.47
Leukemia type			0.675	0.501
Chronic	34	44.00 ± 3.87
Acute	86	43.44 ± 4.16
Family history			0.286	0.776
No	89	43.66 ± 4.23
Yes	31	43.42 ± 3.64
Tendency to conceal illness			-2.154	0.033
No	47	42.62 ± 3.72
Yes	73	44.23 ± 4.19

¹The multiple comparison result of the least significant difference test. Patients’ reported history of underlying diseases refers to diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia. SIS: Social Impact Scale.

Table 5 Independent variable and dummy variable assignment method

ID	Variable	Assignment
X01	Age (a)	0 = 65-75, 1 ≥ 75
X02	Education level	Junior high school and below (Z1 = 0, Z2 = 0, Z3 = 0); High school or technical secondary school (Z1 = 0, Z2 = 1, Z3 = 0); College or above (Z1 = 0, Z2 = 0, Z3 = 1)
X03	Smoking	0 = No, 1 = Yes
X04	Average monthly family income (CNY)	> 5000 (Z1 = 0, Z2 = 0, Z3 = 0); 3000-5000 (Z1= 0, Z2= 1, Z3 = 0); < 3000 (Z1 = 0, Z2 = 0, Z3 = 1)
X05	Pension	0 = No, 1= Yes
X06	Tendency to conceal illness	0 = No, 1 = Yes
X07	Social support	Actual measuring
X08	Anxiety	Actual measuring
X09	Depression	Actual measuring

Table 6 Multivariate linear regression analysis

Variable	Group	β	SE	β’	t	P value
Constant		55.607	5.278	——	10.535	< 0.05
Age (a)		1.442	0.494	0.175	2.918	0.004
Education level	Junior high school and below	0.604	0.632	0.066	0.955	0.342
	High school or technical secondary school	0.227	0.572	0.027	0.396	0.693
Smoking		1.479	0.533	0.174	2.775	0.007
Average monthly family income (CNY)	< 3000	0.938	0.654	0.099	1.433	0.155
	3000-5000	0.531	0.565	0.064	0.940	0.349
Pension		-0.160	0.514	-0.02	-0.311	0.757
Tendency to conceal illness		0.885	0.514	0.107	1.721	0.088
Social support		-0.670	0.097	-0.472	-6.873	< 0.05
Anxiety		0.079	0.034	0.162	2.351	0.021
Depression		0.093	0.043	0.137	2.192	0.031

R = 0.802, R² = 0.644, △R² = 0.607, F = 17.733, P < 0.05.