Table 1.
Selected characteristics of the study population
| Characteristic | N* | % |
| Sex | ||
| Male | 236 | 48 |
| Female | 256 | 52 |
| Age group, years | ||
| < 65 | 106 | 21.5 |
| 65–74 | 139 | 28.3 |
| 75–84 | 196 | 39.8 |
| ≥ 85 | 51 | 10.4 |
| Median | 75 | |
| Education level | ||
| No formal education | 177 | 36 |
| Primary school | 186 | 37.8 |
| Secondary school or higher | 129 | 26.2 |
| Marital status | ||
| Married | 286 | 58.1 |
| Others | 206 | 41.9 |
| Living condition | ||
| With family | 368 | 74.8 |
| Other | 124 | 25.2 |
| Additional persons in the household | ||
| None | 110 | 22.4 |
| 1 | 205 | 41.6 |
| > 1 | 177 | 36 |
| Working activity | ||
| Retired | 411 | 83.5 |
| Other | 81 | 16.5 |
| Distance from home to hospital, km | ||
| ≤ 5 | 227 | 46.1 |
| 6–35 | 153 | 31.1 |
| > 35 | 112 | 22.8 |
| Median | 20 | |
| Type of admission | ||
| Emergency physician | 432 | 87.8 |
| Other | 60 | 12.2 |
| Length of hospital stay, days | ||
| Median | 9 | |
| Age-adjusted Charlson et al. comorbidity index | ||
| Median | 4 | |
| Self-reported health status on a 10 points scale | ||
| ≤ 4 | 211 | 42.9 |
| ≥ 5 | 281 | 57.1 |
| PCP accesses in the previous year | ||
| None | 4 | 0.8 |
| 1–12 | 129 | 26.2 |
| > 12 | 359 | 73 |
| PCP medical visits in the previous year | ||
| ≤ 12 | 304 | 62.3 |
| > 12 | 184 | 37.7 |
| Satisfaction with PCP health services | ||
| No/few | 135 | 27.7 |
| Rather/much | 353 | 72.3 |
| Difficulty of access to PCP health services | ||
| No/few | 404 | 82.8 |
| Rather/much | 84 | 17.2 |
| Patients for each PCP | ||
| < 1000 | 146 | 29.9 |
| 1000–1300 | 137 | 28.1 |
| > 1300 | 205 | 42 |
| District health services accesses in the previous year | ||
| None | 310 | 63.5 |
| ≥ 1 | 178 | 36.5 |
| Emergency accesses in the previous year | ||
| None | 260 | 52.8 |
| ≥ 1 | 232 | 47.2 |
| Hospital admissions in the previous year | ||
| None | 275 | 55.9 |
| ≥ 1 | 217 | 44.1 |
*The numbers that do not add to 492 are due to not applicable data for the variable.
PCP, primary care physician.