Table 1. The association between the number of consultationsa and a diagnosis of cancer.

	CaseN=1064		Control N=13 206
Number of consultations	Freq.	%c	Freq.	%c	ORb	Likelihood ratio	Positive predictive value (per 10 000) (95% CI)
0–3 months before index date
No consultatios	139	13.06	8071	61.12	1.0
With consultations	925	86.94	5135	38.88	12.4 (10.3–15.0)	2.24	1.1 (1.07–1.14)
1	195	21.08	2860	55.70	1.0
2	190	20.54	1150	22.40	2.6 (2.1–3.2)	0.92	0.45 (0.39–0.52)
3	143	15.46	532	10.36	4.5 (3.5–5.8)	1.49	0.73 (0.62–0.87)
4 or more	397	42.92	593	11.55	12.1 (9.7–15.1)	3.72	1.83 (1.65–2.04)

Abbreviations: CI=confidence interval; Freq.=frequency; GP=general practitioner; OR=odds ratio.

^aAll primary care consultations including out of hours and telephone consultations.

^bRepresents the odds of being diagnosed with cancer given more consultations with the GP; computed using conditional logistic regression.

^cFor categories 1, 2, 3 and 4 or more, proportions reflect only patients with consultations.