Table 4.
Associations between use of primary care professionals 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 | 1.71 | 1.64 | 2.44 | 1.93 | 2.09 | 2.10 | 1.34 | 1.75 | 2.25 | 6.14 | 1.96 | 2.59 |
| 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 | 0.72 | 0.37 | 0.58 | 0.14 | 0.86 | 1.19 | 0.76 | 0.71 | 0.55 | 1.41 | 1.23 | 1.01 |
| 35-44 yrs | 1.26 | 1.45 | 0.56 | 0.23 | 2.29 | 3.47 | 1.01 | 1.89 | 1.47 | 4.55 | 2.07 | 2.17 |
| 45-54 yrs | 1.54 | 1.10 | 0.85 | 0.31 | 1.77 | 3.61 | 1.63 | 3.08 | 1.61 | 2.77 | 2.40 | 2.22 |
| 55-60 yrs | 1.23 | 0.60 | 0.85 | 0.27 | 2.58 | 4.92 | 1.23 | 5.54 | 2.32 | 4.63 | 3.12 | 3.57 |
| 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 | 1.09 | 1.38 | 0.95 | 1.29 | 1.18 | 0.92 | 0.90 | 1.74 | 1.30 | 1.71 | 1.26 | 0.90 |
| No longer married | 2.18 | 1.58 | 2.89 | 0.62 | 1.62 | 0.48 | 1.53 | 0.84 | 1.29 | 0.31 | 1.63 | 0.57 |
| 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 | 0.51 | 0.31 | 3.50 | 3.56 | 0.95 | 2.88 | 0.48 | 0.22 | 1.33 | 2.20 | 0.99 | 3.07 |
| High | 0.48 | 0.49 | 2.01 | 1.39 | 1.44 | 6.02 | 0.33 | 0.22 | 1.17 | 0.95 | 1.32 | 3.78 |
| 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 | 0.79 | 2.61 | 1.93 | 14.09 | 0.66 | 0.95 | 0.48 | 1.16 | 0.40 | 0.18 | 0.64 | 1.02 |
| Higher education | 0.40 | 1.65 | 1.09 | 15.74 | 0.78 | 2.54 | 0.36 | 0.83 | 0.36 | 0.10 | 0.67 | 1.49 |
| 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 | 1.43 | 0.60 | 1.50 | 1.00 | 0.87 | 1.02 | 1.50 | 1.30 | 1.28 | 2.08 | 0.57 | 0.63 |
| Council/housing assoc. | 1.39 | 0.74 | 1.18 | 0.28 | 1.09 | 1.19 | 1.19 | 0.27 | 1.33 | 0.06 | 1.15 | 0.50 |
| 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 | 1.88 | 1.18 | 1.06 | 0.89 | 1.78 | 0.98 | 1.27 | 1.15 | 1.14 | 0.50 | 1.51 | 0.90 |
| Self-employed | 0.60 | 0.51 | 0.71 | 0.43 | 1.35 | 1.16 | 0.37 | 0.43 | 0.50 | 0.16 | 0.78 | 0.69 |
| Not working due to illness | 6.52 | 2.57 | 2.76 | 0.66 | 9.46 | 2.50 | 5.00 | 5.54 | 5.31 | 4.09 | 14.68 | 3.63 |
| Others not in employment | 1.03 | 0.79 | 1.07 | 0.45 | 1.44 | 0.54 | 1.17 | 1.63 | 0.96 | 0.24 | 1.15 | 0.58 |
| Household 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 | 0.76 | 0.75 | 0.93 | 3.84 | 0.69 | 0.58 | 0.35 | 0.55 | 0.93 | 0.62 | 0.83 | 0.78 |
| £30,000-49,000 | 0.47 | 0.40 | 0.50 | 0.92 | 0.53 | 0.51 | 0.52 | 0.80 | 0.71 | 0.40 | 0.45 | 0.70 |
| £50,000+ | 0.44 | 0.80 | 0.60 | 1.15 | 0.25 | 0.20 | 0.51 | 1.73 | 0.38 | 0.40 | 0.47 | 0.62 |
| 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 | 0.86 | 2.48 | 9.49 | 84.62 | 1.19 | 0.67 | 1.82 | 6.46 | 2.15 | 5.47 | 1.83 | 2.91 |
| 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 | 1.69 | 1.59 | 1.20 | 0.96 | 1.50 | 0.71 | 1.77 | 1.30 | 1.16 | 0.23 | 1.56 | 1.24 |
| Current smoker | 1.62 | 0.98 | 0.44 | 0.55 | 0.94 | 0.64 | 2.00 | 1.91 | 0.82 | 0.50 | 1.14 | 0.82 |
| 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 | 3.11 | 2.31 | 1.06 | 1.94 | 1.76 | 1.41 | 5.05 | 2.17 | 1.50 | 1.10 | 2.11 | 1.36 |
| 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 | 5.97 | 2.64 | 19.78 | 2.50 | 11.70 | 4.33 | 12.07 | 8.47 | 4.55 | 4.24 | 7.68 | 5.09 |
| 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 | 2.03 | 2.06 | 3.98 | 3.03 | 3.50 | 2.99 | 1.76 | 0.97 | 4.61 | 6.49 | 2.67 | 1.96 |
| Long | 4.66 | 2.66 | 6.96 | 12.23 | 7.06 | 3.75 | 5.18 | 2.09 | 1.65 | 0.19 | 3.14 | 2.23 |
| 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 | 5.58 | 2.86 | 22.83 | 19.42 | 10.55 | 3.63 | 6.03 | 4.38 | 11.07 | 15.83 | 8.54 | 3.13 |
| 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 | 0.65 | 0.27 | 0.50 | 0.15 | 0.65 | 0.83 | 0.63 | 0.12 | 0.94 | 0.52 | 0.70 | 1.04 |
† 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)