Table 5.
Patient and clinician characteristics for each cluster
| Total n (%) | Cluster | ||||
| High (n=659) | Moderate (n=18) | Low (n =286) | None (n=595) | ||
| Patient factors | |||||
| Age | |||||
| 45–64 | 817 | 277 (34) | 109 (13) | 293 (43) | 138 (17) |
| 65–74 | 442 | 213 (48) | 20 (5) | 144 (33) | 65 (15) |
| 75–84 | 349 | 133 (38) | 35 (10) | 116 (33) | 65 (19) |
| 85+ | 116 | 36 (31) | 20 (17) | 42 (36) | 18 (6) |
| Gender | |||||
| Male | 710 | 286 (40) | 68 (10) | 113 (16) | 243 (34) |
| Female | 1014 | 373 (37) | 116 (11) | 173 (17) | 352 (35) |
| BMI category | |||||
| Normal | 315 | 111 (35) | 54 (17) | 48 (15) | 102 (32) |
| Overweight | 1080 | 471 (44) | 83 (8) | 193 (18) | 333 (31) |
| Not recorded | 329 | 77 (23) | 47 (14) | 45 (14) | 160 (49) |
| Diagnosis | |||||
| Recorded with joint pain only | 1142 | 366 (32) | 148 (13) | 207 (18) | 421 (37) |
| OA diagnosis | 582 | 293 (50) | 36 (6) | 79 (14) | 174 (30) |
| Site of OA | |||||
| Knee | 855 | 359 (42) | 80 (9) | 149 (17) | 267 (31) |
| Hip | 363 | 135 (37) | 41 (11) | 68 (19) | 119 (33) |
| Foot | 125 | 30 (24) | 15 (12) | 10 (8) | 70 (56) |
| Hand | 152 | 33 (22) | 25 (16) | 31 (20) | 63 (41) |
| Unspecified | 99 | 30 (30) | 8 (8) | 16 (16) | 45 (46) |
| Multiple | 130 | 72 (55) | 15 (12) | 12 (9) | 31 (24) |
| Morbidity load* | |||||
| BNF count 0–4 |
485 | 156 (32) | 68 (14) | 89 (18) | 172 (36) |
| 5–9 | 578 | 240 (42) | 56 (10) | 99 (17) | 183 (32) |
| 10+ | 661 | 263 (40) | 60 (9) | 98 (15) | 240 (36) |
| Number of OA consultations† | |||||
| Multiple | 532 | 250 (47) | 63 (12) | 99 (19) | 120 (23) |
| Single | 1192 | 409 (34) | 121 (10) | 187 (16) | 475 (40) |
| Median (IQR) number of OA consultations† | 1 (0, 1) | 1 (1, 2) | 1 (1, 2) | 1 (1, 2) | 1 (1, 1) |
| Consulter status | |||||
| Repeat | 566 | 232 (41) | 53 (9) | 84 (15) | 197 (35) |
| New‡ | 1158 | 427 (37) | 131 (11) | 202 (17) | 398 (34) |
| Clinician factors | |||||
| Clinician OA workload† | |||||
| Below the median | 197 | 41 (21) | 16 (8) | 36 (18) | 104 (53) |
| Above the median | 1527 | 618 (41) | 168 (11) | 250 (16) | 491 (32) |
*Number of BNF subchapters from which prescription was made in previous 12 months.
†During 6-month period.
‡No clinical OA consultations within the previous 12 months.
BMI, body mass index; BNF, British National Formulary; OA, osteoarthritis.