Table 4.

Multivariate analysis of factors associated with long (24 h or longer) pre-hospital delay.

	OR (95% CI)	p
Female	0.98 (0.66–1.46)	.923
Age
Age 18–39 years	Reference
Age 40–64 years	1.63 (1.06–2.52)	.026
Age over 64 years	2.84 (1.18–6.80)	.019
Symptoms
No abdominal pain	3.71 (0.39–34.87)	.252
Fever	1.66 (1.08–2.57)	.022
Nausea	0.72 (0.42–1.22)	.217
Vomiting	0.63 (0.33–1.19)	.151
Loss of appetite	2.86 (1.64–4.98)	<.001
Tenderness to movement	0.80 (0.48–1.33)	.382
Diarrhea	1.98 (0.98–4.00)	.057
Symptom onset
Between 10 pm and 6 am	0.50 (0.32–0.79)	.003
Between Friday 3 pm and Monday 6 am	1.24 (0.84–1.84)	.289
Telephone contact
Referred to see a doctor	Reference
Not referred to see a doctor	2.02 (1.15–3.53)	.014
No telephone contacts	1.42 (0.93–2.17)	.104
Conclusion at the first doctor’s appointment
Referred to a surgical center	Reference
Not referred to a surgical center	2.16 (1.32–3.53)	.002
No doctor visits	0.78 (0.37–1.65)	.515
Living alone	0.68 (0.44–1.05)	.085
Educational status
University degree	Reference
Vocational upper secondary education	1.05 (0.64–1.73)	.854
General upper secondary education	0.99 (0.50–1.96)	.966
Basic education	1.13 (0.52–2.46)	.761
Professional status
Worker	Reference
Blue collar	0.66 (0.34–1.28)	.218
White collar	0.95 (0.55–1.65)	.862
Entrepreneur	1.66 (0.82–3.35)	.156
Student	0.97 (0.47–2.02)	.939
Student and working	1.22 (0.52–2.87)	.650
Other	0.44 (0.03–5.53)	.522

OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval.

The examinations at the first doctor’s appointment, the use of antibiotics, and employment status were left out of the analysis to reduce the number of variables and to avoid overlap.

Significant findings with P-values less than 0.05 are bolded.