Table 2.

Summary of population characteristics, practice characteristics, health states and prescribing rates across 31 primary care trusts: median, interquartile range, and range

	Median	Interquartile range	Range
Population profile
Age (years)
% 0-15	19.3	17.4-20.8	12.2-25.8
% 16-44	48.3	44.5-52.8	39.2-59.1
% 45-64	19.9	18.9-21.9	13.2-24.3
% 65+	11.8	10.2-13.9	5.8-17.4
% Ethnic minority residents	26.8	20.9-37.0	4.8-60.6
% Lone parents	2.6	2.1-3.6	1.7-5.7
% Elderly living alone	2.6	2.0-3.0	1.6-3.9
Deprivation score	26.8	17.0-37.9	7.5-61.3
Practice characteristics
Average total size	2054	1923-2155	1377-2306
% GPs with > 2500 patients	17.8	8.3-25.0	0-39.3
Total number of GPs	123	107-146	73-192
% GPs offering asthma services	84.7	66.7-91.4	28.5-100
% GPs offering diabetes services	83.9	66.7-90.5	29.0-100
Population health
Motality rates (per 100 000 resident population)
Diabetes	8.5	7.3-10.4	3.7-13.8
Heart failure	13.4	11.1-17.3	6.6-26.8
Hypertension	6.4	5.5-8.9	3.4-16.2
COPD	32.5	26.7-43.2	24.6-66.6
Prescribing rates (per resident population)
Respiratory drugs	0.77	0.67-0.88	0.49-1.90
Diabetes drugs	0.30	0.25-0.35	0.17-0.59
Cardiovascular drugs	1.70	1.24-2.03	1.07-4.37

^*Calculated using average number of deaths per year (1999-2001) and 2001 resident population

GP, general practitioner; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease