Table 2 Utilisation of GP services in 2011 among adult patients diagnosed with COPD or asthma in Norwegian general practicea by diagnosis, education level and age group

From: GP utilisation by education level among adults with COPD or asthma: a cross-sectional register-based study

 

COPD b

Asthma c

 

Basic education

Intermediate education

High education

P-value

Basic education

Intermediate education

High education

P-value

Patients aged 40–59 years

 N

5,622

6,763

1,358

 

11,464

24,065

12,881

 

 Gender (% male)

44.3

48.6

40.1

<0.001

35.6

41.2

35.0

<0.001

 Age (mean)

52.5

53.1

52.2

<0.001

49.3

49.4

48.6

<0.001

 Consultation rate (mean)

6.9

6.3

5.7

<0.001

6.0

5.0

4.3

<0.001

 Proportion with of patients with:

⩾1 consultation (%)

95.0

95.2

94.7

0.76

93.4

92.4

91.3

<0.001

⩾5 consultation (%)

56.8

51.3

49.1

<0.001

49.2

42.7

34.6

<0.001

⩾10 consultation (%)

23.3

19.5

16.9

<0.001

18.3

13.2

9.6

<0.001

 Proportion of patients with ⩾1 spirometry (%)

28.6

29.4

27.6

0.32

19.1

19.1

18.7

0.53

Patients aged ⩾60 years

 N

23,961

25,104

3,343

 

13,816

20,830

5,624

 

 Gender (% male)

44.2

53.7

57.6

<0.001

29.3

37.4

43.2

<0.001

 Age (mean)

73.5

71.8

71.4

0.016

72.9

70.0

67.9

<0.001

 Consultation rate (mean)

6.8

6.5

6.4

<0.001

6.3

5.8

5.3

<0.001

 Proportion of patients with:

⩾1 consultation (%)

94.2

94.8

95.1

0.011

94.8

95.2

94.7

0.081

⩾5 consultation (%)

56.6

54.2

53.7

<0.001

53.6

49.8

44.7

<0.001

⩾10 consultation (%)

22.8

21.1

20.1

<0.001

19.8

16.8

14.6

<0.001

 Proportion of patients with ⩾1 spirometry (%)

25.1

27.8

27.6

<0.001

18.2

20.5

20.8

<0.001

  1. Abbreviations: COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; GP, general practitioner.
  2. a Patient identified by diagnosis used by GPs in the 3-year period of 2009–2011.
  3. b Including patients with COPD and both COPD and asthma.
  4. c Including patients with asthma, but no COPD diagnosis.
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