Table 3.
Associations between use of lay-care for selected symptoms and participant and symptom characteristics (unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios)
| Participant and symptom characteristics |
Feeling tired/ run down |
Cold or flu symptoms |
Back pain | Nervousness/ anxiety |
Headaches | Joint pain | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UOR | AOR | UOR | AOR | UOR | AOR | UOR | AOR | UOR | AOR | UOR | AOR | |
| Gender | ||||||||||||
| Men † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Women | 1.30 | 1.29 | 1.74 | 1.64 | 1.66 | 1.32 | 0.95 | 0.74 | 1.99 | 2.11 | 1.32 | 1.24 |
| Age | ||||||||||||
| 18-24 † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| 25-34 yrs | 0.74 | 0.61 | 0.91 | 0.84 | 1.68 | 3.64 | 0.67 | 0.87 | 1.71 | 1.51 | 1.21 | 4.01 |
| 35-44 yrs | 0.91 | 1.01 | 1.14 | 1.36 | 1.94 | 3.17 | 0.46 | 0.99 | 2.42 | 2.62 | 1.18 | 4.66 |
| 45-54 yrs | 0.97 | 1.14 | 1.24 | 2.20 | 1.19 | 3.30 | 0.58 | 0.86 | 1.98 | 2.33 | 1.32 | 5.04 |
| 55-60 yrs | 0.76 | 0.70 | 0.87 | 1.69 | 1.27 | 3.08 | 0.48 | 0.60 | 2.06 | 2.09 | 1.11 | 4.90 |
| Marital status | ||||||||||||
| Single † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Married/living together | 1.04 | 1.16 | 0.97 | 0.71 | 0.83 | 0.86 | 0.70 | 1.19 | 1.51 | 1.28 | 0.84 | 0.53 |
| No longer married | 1.07 | 1.04 | 2.06 | 0.66 | 0.72 | 0.56 | 0.47 | 0.38 | 1.07 | 0.68 | 0.71 | 0.50 |
| Social support | ||||||||||||
| Low † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Medium | 0.55 | 0.48 | 1.58 | 2.42 | 2.60 | 4.06 | 1.28 | 2.10 | 1.72 | 1.84 | 1.86 | 4.06 |
| High | 0.62 | 0.60 | 1.01 | 1.30 | 2.98 | 4.89 | 0.95 | 2.11 | 1.65 | 1.88 | 2.06 | 3.67 |
| Education | ||||||||||||
| No qualifications † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Secondary school | 0.87 | 1.29 | 2.17 | 4.53 | 1.03 | 1.27 | 0.46 | 0.41 | 0.83 | 0.69 | 1.36 | 0.98 |
| Higher education | 1.18 | 2.10 | 2.56 | 5.19 | 1.35 | 2.09 | 0.65 | 0.61 | 0.94 | 0.80 | 1.34 | 1.09 |
| Housing | ||||||||||||
| Owned/mortgaged † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Privately rented and other | 0.99 | 1.21 | 1.23 | 2.40 | 0.77 | 0.62 | 1.42 | 0.94 | 1.13 | 1.41 | 0.72 | 0.65 |
| Council/housing assoc. | 0.80 | 0.98 | 0.89 | 1.21 | 0.81 | 0.89 | 0.95 | 0.52 | 0.94 | 1.19 | 0.50 | 0.31 |
| Employment | ||||||||||||
| Full-time † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Part-time | 1.06 | 1.25 | 1.03 | 0.98 | 1.74 | 1.87 | 0.83 | 0.89 | 1.15 | 0.82 | 1.16 | 1.43 |
| Self-employed | 0.81 | 0.69 | 0.50 | 0.36 | 1.90 | 1.19 | 0.69 | 0.55 | 0.84 | 0.57 | 0.98 | 1.11 |
| Not working due to illness | 1.53 | 0.99 | 0.95 | 0.10 | 1.32 | 0.69 | 2.08 | 2.52 | 0.66 | 0.46 | 1.88 | 1.13 |
| Others not in employment | 1.09 | 1.68 | 0.76 | 1.03 | 1.20 | 1.18 | 1.69 | 2.69 | 0.86 | 0.83 | 0.98 | 1.24 |
| Income | ||||||||||||
| <£15,000 † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| £15,000-29,999 | 1.17 | 1.56 | 0.69 | 0.48 | 0.96 | 0.65 | 0.67 | 1.30 | 1.66 | 1.09 | 1.07 | 1.15 |
| £30,000-49,000 | 1.01 | 1.20 | 0.74 | 0.66 | 1.08 | 0.80 | 0.78 | 1.28 | 1.41 | 0.82 | 0.76 | 0.83 |
| £50,000+ | 1.01 | 1.00 | 0.80 | 0.67 | 0.55 | 0.36 | 0.59 | 0.67 | 1.38 | 0.77 | 1.01 | 1.11 |
| Ethnicity | ||||||||||||
| White † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Other | 2.66 | 5.61 | 6.41 | 3.18 | 1.30 | 1.62 | 8.00 | 26.92 | 0.71 | 0.88 | 1.13 | 2.97 |
| Smoking | ||||||||||||
| Never † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Ex-smoker | 1.09 | 1.15 | 1.11 | 1.23 | 0.98 | 0.76 | 0.84 | 0.93 | 0.88 | 0.93 | 1.01 | 0.95 |
| Current smoker | 0.99 | 0.90 | 0.56 | 0.53 | 1.16 | 0.92 | 0.96 | 0.61 | 0.61 | 0.95 | 1.10 | 1.40 |
| Chronic condition | ||||||||||||
| No † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 0.98 | 0.87 | 0.93 | 1.17 | 0.94 | 0.94 | 1.21 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.88 | 0.85 | 0.73 |
| Severity of symptom | ||||||||||||
| Low † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| High | 1.66 | 1.05 | 6.95 | 4.48 | 3.61 | 2.85 | 4.19 | 2.80 | 1.65 | 1.08 | 3.09 | 3.21 |
| Duration of symptom | ||||||||||||
| Short † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Medium | 2.71 | 3.10 | 2.89 | 2.71 | 1.63 | 1.81 | 1.72 | 2.22 | 1.38 | 1.24 | 2.62 | 2.04 |
| Long | 1.88 | 1.99 | 4.08 | 5.51 | 2.00 | 1.77 | 1.77 | 1.52 | 0.80 | 0.57 | 1.85 | 1.80 |
| Interference with life | ||||||||||||
| Low † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| High | 2.08 | 2.30 | 8.20 | 6.93 | 4.75 | 2.01 | 2.51 | 2.28 | 1.98 | 2.24 | 3.49 | 1.77 |
| Recent experience | ||||||||||||
| No † | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 1.00 |
| Yes | 0.80 | 0.64 | 0.49 | 0.25 | 0.53 | 0.47 | 0.93 | 0.59 | 1.37 | 1.15 | 0.66 | 1.21 |
† Referent group
UOR - unadjusted odds ratio
AOR - adjusted odds ratio (adjusted for all variables, except when the variable itself was being examined
Figures highlighted in bold are significant at 1% level (p < 0.01) (99% CIs are not presented to simplify presentation)