Volume 29, Number 2—February 2023
Dispatch
(Mis)perception and Use of Unsterile Water in Home Medical Devices, PN View 360+ Survey, United States, August 20211
, Sarah A. Collier, Claire E. Burns-Lynch, Ashley A. Andújar, Katharine M. Benedict, Julia C. Haston, Catherine O. Hough, and Jennifer R. Cope
Table 2
Demographic characteristics of 1,004 respondents to question about how they use tap water, by response, in survey of knowledge about tap water, PN 360 View 2021, United States*
| Characteristic | How do you use your household tap water? |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumption† | Bathing/ showering | Washing hands | Rinsing contact lenses | Nasal rinsing | Filling respiratory devices‡ | |
| General population |
66 (63‒69) |
84 (82‒86.4) |
88 (86‒90) |
9 (7‒11) |
13 (11‒15) |
24 (21‒27) |
| Sex | ||||||
| F | 64 (59‒68) | 83 (80‒87) | 87 (84‒90) | 8 (5‒10) | 12 (9‒15) | 24 (21‒28) |
| M | 68 (63‒72) | 85 (81‒88) | 89 (86‒92) | 10 (7‒13) | 14 (11‒17) | 23 (20‒27) |
| p value |
0.2140 |
0.6004 |
0.3666 |
0.3034 |
0.3902 |
0.7322 |
| Race | ||||||
| White | 71 (68‒74) | 87 (84‒89) | 89 (87‒92) | 9 (7‒11) | 13 (11‒16) | 24 (21‒27) |
| Black or African American | 53 (44‒62) | 77 (70‒85) | 85 (78‒91) | 10 (5‒16) | 10 (5‒,15) | 22 (15‒30) |
| Other§ | 52 (42‒62) | 77 (69‒86) | 83 (75‒91) | 8 (3‒14) | 14 (7‒20) | 24 (15‒32) |
| p value |
<0.0001¶ |
0.0078¶ |
0.0814 |
0.8320 |
0.5920 |
0.9130 |
| Ethnicity | ||||||
| Hispanic# | 51 (42‒61) | 71 (63‒79) | 78 (70‒86) | 13 (7‒19) | 21 (14‒29) | 25 (17‒33) |
| Non-Hispanic | 69 (65‒72) | 87 (84‒89) | 90 (88‒92) | 8 (6‒10) | 11 (9‒13) | 24 (21‒27) |
| p value |
0.0003 |
<0.0001 |
0.0003 |
0.0813 |
0.0012 |
0.7937 |
| Age, y | ||||||
| 18–34 | 57 (51‒63) | 73 (67‒78) | 81 (76‒86) | 14 (10‒18) | 19 (14‒24) | 25 (20‒30) |
| 35–54 | 64 (58‒69) | 83 (79‒88) | 87 (83‒91) | 10 (7‒14) | 13 (10‒17) | 25 (20‒30) |
| >55 | 74 (70‒79) | 93 (90‒96) | 94 (9‒97) | 4 (2‒5) | 8 (5‒11) | 22 (18‒26) |
| p value |
<0.0001** |
<0.0001†† |
<0.0001** |
<0.0001** |
0.0002** |
0.5591 |
| Region | ||||||
| Northeast | 70 (63‒77) | 82 (76‒88) | 89 (84‒94) | 10 (5‒14) | 12 (7‒16) | 31 (24‒38) |
| Midwest | 69 (63‒76) | 84 (78‒89) | 85 (80‒91) | 8 (4‒12) | 12 (8‒17) | 27 (21‒34) |
| South | 66 (61‒71) | 87 (84‒91) | 89 (86‒93) | 8 (5‒11) | 12 (8‒15) | 18 (14‒22) |
| West | 58 (52‒65) | 81 (75‒86) | 87 (82‒91) | 10 (6‒15) | 15 (11‒20) | 25 (19‒31) |
| p value |
0.0601 |
0.2120 |
0.5344 |
0.7265 |
0.5647 |
0.0054‡‡ |
| Community setting | ||||||
| Urban | 62 (56‒67) | 82 (78‒87) | 88 (84‒2) | 13 (9‒17) | 16 (12‒20) | 24 (19‒28) |
| Suburban | 65 (60‒69) | 83 (79‒87) | 86 (83‒90) | 8 (5‒10) | 13 (10‒16) | 24 (20‒28) |
| Rural | 74 (68‒80) | 89 (85‒93) | 91 (86‒95) | 6 (3‒9) | 7 (4‒11) | 24 (18‒30) |
| p value |
0.0189§§ |
0.1004 |
0.3463 |
0.0115¶¶ |
0.0147§§ |
0.9797 |
| Household income | ||||||
| <$59,999 | 63 (59‒67) | 83 (80‒87) | 86 (83‒89) | 7 (5‒10) | 9 (7‒12) | 20 (17‒24) |
| >$60,000 | 69 (65‒74) | 85 (82‒89) | 90 (87‒93) | 11 (8‒14) | 17 (14‒21) | 29 (25‒34) |
| p value |
0.0608 |
0.4593 |
0.0837 |
0.0355 |
0.0003 |
0.0024 |
| Water source, n = 932 | ||||||
| Private well | 68 (61‒76) | 76 (69‒83) | 82 (75‒88) | 14 (8‒19) | 18 (12‒24) | 38 (29‒46) |
| Municipal | 67 (63‒70) | 87 (84‒89) | 90 (87‒92) | 8 (6‒10) | 12 (10‒14) | 22 (19‒25) |
| p value | 0.6712 | 0.0016 | 0.0102 | 0.0179 | 0.0388 | 0.0001 |
*Values are percentages (95% CIs) unless otherwise indicated. Boldface indicates significance (p<0.05 by χ2 or by Wald F-tests where there are >3 categories; specific comparisons are footnoted). PN360 View, Porter Novelli Public Services and the ENGINE Insights’ PN View 360+ Survey. †Includes drinking, rinsing produce, or making ice. ‡Respiratory devices include vaporizers, humidifiers, and continuous positive airway pressure machines. §Other race grouped persons who identified as >1 race, Asian, Native American, or Alaska Native, or other because of small sample size. ¶For comparison between White and Black or African American and between White and other race categories. #Hispanic, Spanish, or Latino. **For comparisons between 18–34-y and >55-y age groups and between 35–54-y and >55-y age groups. ††For comparisons between 18–34-y and 35–54-y age groups, between 18–34-y and >55-y age groups, and between 35–54-y and >55-y age groups. ‡‡For comparisons between Northeast and South, between Midwest and South, and between South and West. §§For comparisons between urban and rural and between suburban and rural. ¶¶For comparisons between urban and suburban and between urban and rural.
1Preliminary results from this study were presented at the 2022 Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference, May 2‒5, 2022, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.