Table 1.

Socioeconomic characteristics, standardised mortality ratios, and composite needs indices of primary care groups in London and association with hospital admission rates (correlations ⩾0.32 significant at P<0.01)

	Summary values			Correlation with admissions
	Mean (SD)	Range		Total	Emergency	Asthma	Diabetes
Census derived variables (%)
Adults unable to work due to permanent sickness	3.3 (0.9)	2-5		0.46	0.57	0.29	0.55
Adults unemployed at 1991 census	11.5 (4.0)	6-22		0.38	0.53	0.15	0.34
People in households headed by someone in unskilled socioeconomic group	2.7 (1.2)	1-6		0.51	0.55	0.28	0.49
Households with no car	39.5 (12.1)	19-64		0.25	0.48	0.11	0.32
Households without central heating	18.3 (5.4)	9-34		0.25	0.39	0.46	0.45
Households lacking amenities	1.5 (0.9)	0-4		−0.09	0.06	−0.08	0.12
People living in households that are overcrowded	8.4 (4.2)	2-26		0.21	0.36	0.00	0.37
Pensioners living alone	6.1 (1.1)	3-9		0.05	0.19	−0.04	−0.14
People living in single parent households	12.5 (5.4)	6-27		0.23	0.45	0.19	0.29
People aged 18 or over with an educational qualification beyond A level	17.7 (6.6)	4-36		−0.41	−0.22	−0.24	−0.33
Working age people who were students	6.0 (1.5)	3-10		−0.26	−0.12	−0.30	−0.08
People who have changed address in the past year	11.5 (3.0)	6-21		−0.26	−0.04	−0.14	0.03
People born in New Commonwealth	11.0 (6.3)	2-32		0.06	0.02	−0.11	0.25
Standardised mortality ratios
<75 year olds	104 (13.8)	77-130		0.47	0.61	0.31	0.53
All age groups	100 (7.2)	80-118		0.33	0.49	0.26	0.39
Diabetes	101 (32.0)	33-186		0.22	0.19	0.08	0.29
Respiratory disorders	112 (14.0)	82-153		0.12	0.24	0.20	0.27
Needs indices (proportion from mean)
Acute needs index	−0.01 (0.09)	−0.17-0.17		0.41	0.58	0.25	0.47
General Medical Services cash limited index	0.00 (0.05)	−0.09-0.09		0.48	0.58	0.28	0.51