Table 1. Patient characteristics by of people presenting with breathlessness as one of the reasons for encounter to general practice in Australia 2000-2009 compared to all other consultations.

Patient characteristics n (Col %)		All adult consultations n= 753, 662*		p value
		Breathlessness is one reason for encountern=7,255	All other consultations n=746,407
Patient characteristics
Prior status with this practice	New patient	501 (7.0)	60,372 (8.2)	0.002
	Seen before	6,615 (93.0)	673,167
			(91.8)
	Missing	139	12,868
Sex	Male	3,290 (45.8)	292,078	<0.001
			(39.4)
	Female	3,897 (54.2)	448,709
			(60.6)
	Missing	68	5,620
Age	18-64 years	3,070 (42.3)	513,574	<0.001
			(68.8)
	≥65 years	4,185 (57.7)	232,833
			(31.2)

Missing data removed from analysis. * additionally, there were 129,671 people under the age of 18 whose data were not analysed.