Table 1.
Mean volume (number of physical therapy sessions per treatment episode) according to patient, physiotherapist and referring physician characteristics in the source and studied population
| Source population | Studied population a | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N (%) or mean value of the category | Mean volume (SD) | N (%) or mean value of the category | Mean volume (SD) | |
| Variables | N = 169,305 | 12.1 (11.9) | N = 87,866 | 11.7 (10.8) |
| Patient factors | ||||
| Age (years) | ||||
| <18 | 10,667 (6%) | 8.9 (8.3) | 6,928 (8%) | 8.5 (7.0) |
| 19-39 | 30,998 (18%) | 10.3 (9.5) | 18,546 (21%) | 9.8 (8.0) |
| 40-59 | 59,987 (35%) | 12.1 (11.4) | 31,150 (35%) | 11.7 (10.1) |
| 60-79 | 52,318 (31%) | 13.1 (12.6) | 24,241 (28%) | 13.0 (11.9) |
| 80+ | 15,335 (9%) | 14.8 (16.4) | 7,001 (8%) | 14.8 (16.0) |
| Gender | ||||
| Male | 62,869 (37%) | 11.8 (11.9) | 35,472 (40%) | 11.3 (10.6) |
| Female | 106,436 (63%) | 12.3 (12.0) | 52,394 (60%) | 11.9 (10.9) |
| Nature of the main condition | ||||
| Neurological disease | 6,086 (4%) | 17.5 (22.2) | 2,336 (3%) | 16.9 (21.4) |
| Shoulder surgeryb | 1,722 (1%) | 16.9 (14.4) | 337 (0%) | 19.0 (15.8) |
| Muscle diseaseb | 1,112 (1%) | 14.8 (14.4) | 331 (0%) | 15.3 (14.7) |
| Other hip surgeryb | 1,827 (1%) | 14.6 (13.3) | 489 (1%) | 13.9 (12.3) |
| Knee prosthesisb | 3,363 (2%) | 14.4 (12.7) | 661 (1%) | 16.9 (13.7) |
| Rehabilitation | 863 (1%) | 14.4 (17.0) | 285 (0%) | 12.5 (11.2) |
| Hip prosthesisb | 4,553 (3%) | 13.6 (12.3) | 848 (1%) | 13.9 (12.2) |
| Other orthopedicsb | 3,055 (2%) | 13.6 (13.1) | 1,629 (2%) | 13.4 (14.4) |
| Backb | 8,563 (5%) | 13.5 (13.6) | 2,388 (3%) | 13.6 (14.3) |
| Osteoporosisb | 5,701 (3%) | 13.4 (13.2) | 2,474 (3%) | 13.6 (12.2) |
| Cancer | 3,178 (2%) | 13.1 (13.4) | 1,421 (2%) | 13.2 (14.2) |
| Traumab | 4,947 (3%) | 13.0 (13.6) | 2,111 (2%) | 12.5 (12.1) |
| Lymphatic and breast disease | 1,587 (1%) | 13.0 (12.9) | 600 (1%) | 12.4 (11.4) |
| Kneeb | 469 (0%) | 12.6 (9.2) | 173 (0%) | 13.4 (10.4) |
| Rheumatologyb | 7,887 (5%) | 12.3 (11.7) | 3675 (4%) | 12.4 (11.3) |
| Psychiatry | 34,242 (20%) | 12.3 (11.8) | 17,588 (20%) | 12.3 (11.5) |
| Other (medical) | 41,592 (25%) | 11.0 (9.7) | 25,764 (29%) | 10.9 (9.0) |
| Surgery | 5,529 (3%) | 10.8 (9.0) | 3,203 (4%) | 10.3 (7.6) |
| Any of above | 33,029 (20%) | 10.7 (9.7) | 21,553 (25%) | 10.4 (8.3) |
| Comorbidity burden (annual health care costs, mean in 103 CHF) | ||||
| <1000 | 27,242 (16%) | 10.3 (8.8) | 22,319 (25%) | 10.1 (8.1) |
| 1001-2000 | 20,062 (12%) | 10.5 (8.3) | 13,754 (16%) | 10.4 (7.9) |
| 2001-5000 | 44,321 (26%) | 11.2 (8.9) | 24,725 (28%) | 11.3 (8.6) |
| 5001-10000 | 36,000 (21%) | 12.2 (10.6) | 14,805 (17%) | 12.5 (10.5) |
| 10001-20000 | 24,169 (14%) | 13.4 (13.0) | 7,451 (8%) | 14.1 (13.8) |
| 20001-50000 | 13,626 (8%) | 16.1 (18.5) | 3,747 (4%) | 16.8 (19.2) |
| >50000 | 3,885 (2%) | 22.3 (30.1) | 1,065 (1%) | 24.5 (32.8) |
| Deductibles | ||||
| <=300 | 98,499 (58%) | 12.4 (12.6) | 50764 (58%) | 11.9 (11.4) |
| 301-600 | 55,734 (33%) | 12.2 (11.3) | 27582 (31%) | 11.7 (10.4) |
| 601-1500 | 11,984 (7%) | 10.4 (8.6) | 7484 (9%) | 10.1 (7.5) |
| >1500 | 3,088 (2%) | 10.0 (9.5) | 2036 (2%) | 9.6 (8.3) |
| Large city residencec | ||||
| No | 104,960 (62%) | 12.0 (11.8) | 55680 (63%) | 11.5 (10.7) |
| Yes | 64,345 (38%) | 12.4 (12.0) | 32186 (37%) | 11.9 (10.9) |
| Number of physicians per patient | ||||
| 1 | 98,864 (58%) | 11.7 (10.9) | 84231 (96%) | 11.6 (10.6) |
| 2 | 45,346 (27%) | 12.6 (12.9) | 3633 (4%) | 12.6 (13.6) |
| >2 | 25,095 (15%) | 13.1 (13.7) | 2 (0%) | 5.5 (3.5) |
| Number of physiotherapists per patient | ||||
| 1 | 116,868 (69%) | 12.1 (11.7) | 85332(97%) | 11.6 (10.7) |
| 2 | 39,471 (23%) | 12.3 (12.3) | 2426 (3%) | 12.8 (11.8) |
| >2 | 12,966 (8%) | 12.0 (12.4) | 108 (0%) | 13.4 (12.7) |
| Physician factors | ||||
| Proportion of treatments by physician as a nine-session episode by quintiles rank | ||||
| 1st | 22% | 10.5 (11.8) | 21% | 9.8 (10.1) |
| 2nd | 49% | 11.1 (11.2) | 48% | 10.6 (10.3) |
| 3rd | 63% | 12.4 (12.5) | 63% | 11.9 (11.3) |
| 4th | 73% | 13.3 (12.0) | 73% | 12.8 (11.0) |
| 5th | 86% | 13.4 (11.9) | 85% | 13.2 (10.7) |
| Proportion of new treatments by physician by quintiles rank | ||||
| 1st | 48% | 15.2 (16.8) | 50% | 14.3 (15.2) |
| 2nd | 60% | 12.7 (12.0) | 61% | 12.0 (10.6) |
| 3rd | 65% | 11.7 (10.5) | 66% | 11.5 (9.9) |
| 4th | 71% | 11.3 (9.8) | 72% | 10.9 (8.7) |
| 5th | 81% | 9.8 (7.6) | 81% | 9.6 (7.1) |
| Variation coefficient of the physician (by quintiles rank)d | ||||
| 1st | 0.45 | 10.3 (5.8) | 0.38 | 9.9 (4.7) |
| 2nd | 0.65 | 11.4 (7.8) | 0.56 | 10.8 (6.7) |
| 3rd | 0.76 | 11.6 (9.4) | 0.67 | 11.6 (8.3) |
| 4th | 0.88 | 13.0 (12.1) | 0.80 | 11.9 (10.1) |
| 5th | 1.19 | 14.5 (19.3) | 1.14 | 14.1 (18.2) |
| Physiotherapist factors | ||||
| Proportion of treatments by physiotherapist as a nine-session episode by quintiles rank | ||||
| 1st | 29% | 11.0 (12.6) | 30% | 10.2 (11.2) |
| 2nd | 46% | 11.2 (11.1) | 47% | 10.8 (10.4) |
| 3rd | 56% | 12.0 (11.4) | 56% | 11.4 (10.0) |
| 4th | 68% | 12.8 (12.3) | 68% | 12.4 (10.7) |
| 5th | 84% | 13.8 (11.9) | 84% | 13.5 (11.1) |
| Proportion of new treatments by physiotherapist by quintiles rank | ||||
| 1st | 49% | 14.9 (16.9) | 51% | 14.2 (15.0) |
| 2nd | 60% | 12.6 (11.7) | 61% | 12.0 (10.5) |
| 3rd | 66% | 11.8 (10.8) | 51% | 14.2 (10.0) |
| 4th | 71% | 11.0 (9.4) | 61% | 12.0 (8.6) |
| 5th | 80% | 10.3 (8.4) | 67% | 11.5 (7.7) |
| Variation coefficient of the physiotherapist (by quintiles rank)e | ||||
| 1st | 0.53 | 10.8 (6.4) | 0.46 | 10.4 (5.6) |
| 2nd | 0.68 | 11.4 (8.2) | 0.61 | 10.7 (7.0) |
| 3rd | 0.78 | 11.7 (9.6) | 0.70 | 11.4 (8.4) |
| 4th | 0.89 | 12.5 (11.8) | 0.81 | 11.7 (9.9) |
| 5th | 1.20 | 14.3 (19.1) | 1.13 | 14.1 (18.0) |
aRestricted to the first treatment episode per patient and patients treated by a physiotherapist and a physician with at least two observations (allowing a value of the coefficient of variation).
bReferred to as musculoskeletal conditions in the manuscript.
cIn one of the 62 largest cities.
dN = 167,196 because of missing values of the coefficient of variation.
eN = 168,979 because of missing values of the coefficient of variation.