Of the 274 respondents, 37 respondents failed to provide a response on at least one choice scenario in the health survey (90 missing values on the dependent variable); three of which failed to provide a response on any of the choice scenarios in the health survey (accounting for 21 of the 90 missing values on the dependent variable).
†On the HPATHI, 3 respondents failed to indicate a level of training and on the ATHI, 2 respondents failed to indicate a level of training.
Since naming less than 15 different animals (excluding repetitions) is suggestive of dementia and naming 15 or more are considered normal, a variable indicating if the respondent has a verbal fluency problem was created if respondents failed to name at least 15 correct words [23].
Responses were excluded from 1242 respondents, either because they were only partly complete (n = 702), respondents refused to trade on ethical or religious grounds (n = 316), or if respondents failed a test question (i.e. those who preferred living a shorter time with diabetes than living for longer in full health) (n = 224).
Fifty of the 629 patients (8%) evaluated in our study had to be excluded because their responses were considered invalid for the following reasons: the respondents failed to completely understand the SEIQoL-DW, their answers were inaccurate, or the person accompanying the respondent provided the answers instead of the patient.
A study by Wang et al. similarly identified that half of the respondents failed to treat a hypothetical case of anaphylaxis with the appropriate dose of epinephrine, and more than a third of respondents selected an inadequate observation period following a reaction [ 8].
Contrary to expectations, younger respondents failed to keep up.
In instances where respondents failed to participate in the survey, the next available household was used.
With a response rate of 80%, the majority (89.7%) of respondents failed a 10-question knowledge test (with a pre-defined passing score of ≥7) with a mean score of 4.17 ± 1.99 SD.
Fourteen of the respondents failed to indicate their job title, but were nonetheless included in the analysis.
