Table 2.
Health care contacts over a one-year period for non-SAC and SAC patients in three European countries
| Patients who reported never attending a SAC | Patients who reported attending a SAC currently | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health care contacts | N | Mean | Std. Dev. | Median | N | Mean | Std. Dev. | Median | P-value† | P-value‡ |
| United Kingdom | ||||||||||
| Specialist centre visits | 109 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 1 | 0 | 1 | < 0.01 | < 0.01 |
| General Practitioner visits | 108 | 2.3 | 3.5 | 0 | 58 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 0 | 0.40 | 0.51 |
| Neurologist outpatient visits | 115 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0 | 59 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 0 | 0.54 | 0.24 |
| Inpatient stays | 110 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0 | 58 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.20 | 0.17 |
| Accident & Emergency visits | 112 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0 | 60 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 0 | 0.65 | 0.82 |
| Physiotherapy visits | 109 | 1.6 | 3.2 | 0 | 64 | 3.1 | 4.5 | 0 | 0.01 | 0.11 |
| Speech and Language therapy visits | 113 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 0 | 60 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.06 | 0.23 |
| Occupational Health Therapy visits | 113 | 1.3 | 3.1 | 0 | 63 | 1.5 | 3.0 | 0 | 0.81 | 0.98 |
| Other consultant specialist visits | 109 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 0 | 59 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 1 | < 0.01 | < 0.01 |
| Italy | ||||||||||
| Specialist centre visits | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 1.4 | 0.7 | 1 | < 0.01 | < 0.01 |
| General Practitioner visits | 19 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 0 | 54 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 0 | 0.20 | 0.39 |
| Neurologist outpatient visits | 20 | 2.7 | 5.0 | 1.5 | 55 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0 | < 0.01 | 0.02 |
| Inpatient stays | 19 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0 | 57 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0 | 0.91 | 0.51 |
| Accident & Emergency visits | 18 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0 | 57 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.30 | 0.17 |
| Physiotherapy visits | 21 | 19.0 | 19.6 | 10 | 63 | 14.5 | 19.8 | 2 | 0.37 | 0.40 |
| Speech and Language therapy visits | 19 | 7.8 | 11.6 | 1 | 61 | 6.4 | 12.7 | 1 | 0.67 | 0.78 |
| Occupational Health Therapy visits | 18 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 0 | 50 | 1.3 | 4.1 | 0 | 0.88 | 0.95 |
| Other consultant specialist | 18 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 0 | 59 | 1.9 | 5.5 | 0 | 0.80 | 0.28 |
| Germany | ||||||||||
| Specialist centre visits | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 33 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 1 | < 0.01 | 0.01 |
| General Practitioner visits | 8 | 5.5 | 10.1 | 2 | 34 | 4.9 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 0.80 | 0.23 |
| Neurologist outpatient visits | 11 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3 | 30 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2 | 0.23 | 0.47 |
| Inpatient stays | 10 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0 | 31 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0 | 0.24 | 0.24 |
| Accident & Emergency visits | 9 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0 | 31 | 0.6 | 2.7 | 0 | 0.59 | 0.92 |
| Physiotherapy visits | 11 | 33.7 | 22.8 | 50 | 28 | 27.9 | 23.7 | 40 | 0.49 | 0.92 |
| Speech and Language therapy visits | 10 | 8.9 | 18.5 | 0 | 33 | 11.5 | 17.2 | 1 | 0.69 | 0.02 |
| Occupational Health Therapy visits | 10 | 7.9 | 17.2 | 0 | 30 | 10.4 | 17.7 | 0 | 0.70 | 0.41 |
| Other consultant specialist visits | 9 | 1.6 | 2.3 | 1 | 28 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1 | 0.95 | 0.54 |
| P-value§ | ||||||||||
| Specialist centre visits | - | 0.01 | ||||||||
| General Practitioner visits | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | ||||||||
| Neurologist outpatient visits | 0.10 | < 0.01 | ||||||||
| Inpatient stays | 0.92 | 0.35 | ||||||||
| Accident & Emergency visits | 0.53 | 0.18 | ||||||||
| Physiotherapy visits | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | ||||||||
| Speech and Language therapy visits | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | ||||||||
| Occupational Health Therapy visits | < 0.01 | < 0.01 | ||||||||
| Other consultant specialist visits | 0.16 | 0.30 | ||||||||
† Test for significant differences in mean contacts between non-SAC and SAC groups (unadjusted)
‡ Test for significant differences in mean contacts between non-SAC and SAC groups (adjusted for age, sex, number of symptoms and number of comorbidities)
§ Test for significant differences in mean contacts between countries separately for non-SAC and SAC groups (adjusted for age, sex, number of symptoms and number of comorbidities)
SAC, specialist ataxia centre; N, number of participants who responded to that question