Table 3.
Predictors of patients' desire for prescription and examination in general practice
| No (%) who want it | No (%) who don't want it | Crude odds ratio (95% CI) | Adjusted odds ratio* (95% CI) | Likelihood ratio test χ2 (P value) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Want prescription | |||||
| Not in paid work | 81 (58) | 178 (37) | 2.36 (1.61 to 3.47) | 1.43 (0.74 to 2.75) | 1.1 (0.29) |
| Not married or living as married | 56 (41) | 148 (31) | 1.49 (1.01 to 2.20) | 3.24 (1.06 to 9.84) | 4.2 (0.04) |
| Partner not in paid work | 40 (46) | 80 (24) | 2.63 (1.61 to 4.28) | 1.99 (1.02 to 3.89) | 4.0 (0.046) |
| Partner non-manual work | 26 (52) | 184 (68) | 0.50 (0.27 to 0.92) | 0.59 (0.30 to 1.18) | 2.2 (0.14) |
| Age (years): | |||||
| 0-16 | 8 (6) | 56 (12) | 0.19 (0.08 to 0.44) | 0.06 (0.01 to 0.63) | |
| 17-40 | 47 (34) | 201 (42) | 0.31 (0.19 to 0.51) | 1.09 (0.49 to 2.40) | |
| 41-60 | 38 (27) | 161 (34) | 0.32 (0.19 to 0.53) | 0.60 (0.27 to 1.34) | |
| >60 | 47 (34) | 63 (13) | 1 | 1 | 11.6 (0.009) |
| High attender | 69 (54) | 169 (36) | 2.03 (1.37 to 3.01) | 1.45 (0.82 to 2.56) | 1.6 (0.20) |
| Medical problems | |||||
| 0 | 7 (6) | 43 (10) | 1 | 1 | 0.6 (0.91) |
| 1 | 25 (20) | 110 (25) | 1.40 (0.56 to 3.47) | 0.78 (0.25 to 2.42) | |
| 2 | 25 (20) | 114 (26) | 1.35 (0.54 to 3.34) | 0.66 (0.22 to 2.03) | |
| ⩾3 | 71 (56) | 178 (40) | 2.45 (1.05 to 5.70) | 0.79 (0.28 to 2.23) | |
| Education (above GCSE) | 37 (34) | 245 (56) | 0.40 (0.26 to 0.63) | 0.31 (0.18 to 0.55) | 17.2 (0.000) |
| Want examination | |||||
| Education above GCSE | 157 (48) | 122 (57) | 0.69 (0.49 to 0.98) | 0.70 (0.49 to 0.99) | 3.9 (0.048) |
| Feeling unwell: | |||||
| Very | 87 (18) | 29 (11) | 1 | 1 | 3.4 (0.18) |
| Moderately | 129 (27) | 77 (28) | 0.56 (0.34 to 0.93) | 0.58 (0.32 to 1.05) | |
| Slightly/not | 260 (55) | 171 (62) | 0.51 (0.32 to 0.80) | 0.70 (0.40 to 1.24) | |
| Felling worried about the problem†: | |||||
| Very | 143 (30) | 53 (19) | 1 | 1 | 9.9 (0.007) |
| Moderately | 155 (32) | 73 (26) | 0.79 (0.52 to 1.20) | 0.81 (0.49 to 1.33) | |
| Slightly/not | 184 (38) | 151 (55) | 0.45 (0.31 to 0.66) | 0.52 (0.34 to 0.81) | |
*
See table 2 for details.
†
Z trend P=0.002.