Table 1.
Descriptive statistics observation periods where a PAM questionnaire was returned, split by PAM level (1–4)
| PAM level 1 (least activated) |
PAM level 2 | PAM level 3 | PAM level 4 (most activated) |
Overall | |
| (n=2704) | (n=2337) | (n=5591) | (n=1638) | (n=12 270) | |
| Healthcare utilisation | Mean (SD) | Mean SD | Mean SD | Mean SD | Mean SD |
| Contacts with a general practitioner | 10.52 (8.66) | 8.90 (7.6) | 8.19 (7.40) | 7.50 (6.84) | 8.75 (7.73) |
| Emergency department attendances | 0.73 (1.99) | 0.49 (1.27) | 0.47 (1.11) | 0.42 (1.00) | 0.52 (1.37) |
| Elective inpatient admissions | 0.61 (2.38) | 0.39 (1.2) | 0.39 (1.39) | 0.58 (5.17) | 0.47 (2.45) |
| Emergency inpatient admissions | 0.28 (0.86) | 0.18 (0.58) | 0.17 (0.62) | 0.15 (0.64) | 0.19 (0.68) |
| Attended outpatient appointments | 6.72 (9.55) | 5.86 (8.64) | 5.48 (8.51) | 5.05 (7.88) | 5.77 (8.71) |
| ‘Did not attend’ contacts with a GP | 0.75 (1.50) | 0.52 (1.10) | 0.44 (1.05) | 0.36 (0.81) | 0.51 (1.15) |
| ‘Did not attend’ outpatient appointments | 0.36 (0.98) | 0.24 (0.72) | 0.21 (0.74) | 0.20 (0.70) | 0.25 (0.79) |
| Minor self-referrals to emergency departments | 0.20 (0.64) | 0.18 (0.68) | 0.15 (0.51) | 0.12 (0.39) | 0.16 (0.56) |
| Other patient characteristics | |||||
| Age in years at the time of the questionnaire | 67.36 (14.17) | 67.47 (13.28) | 67.21 (13.37) | 64.37 (12.96) | 66.92 (13.52) |
| Number of physical long-term conditions* | 2.05 (1.43) | 2.00 (1.30) | 1.92 (1.29) | 1.80 (1.19) | 1.95 (1.31) |
| Number of mental health long-term conditions† | 0.44 (0.59) | 0.29 (0.50) | 0.28 (0.49) | 0.25 (0.47) | 0.31 (0.52) |
| Number of physical long-term conditions* | Frequency (%) | Frequency (%) | Frequency (%) | Frequency (%) | Frequency (%) |
| 0 | 218 (8.1) | 129 (5.5) | 288 (5.2) | 74 (4.5) | 709 (5.8) |
| 1 | 931 (34.4) | 873 (37.4) | 2295 (41.1) | 751 (45.9) | 4850 (39.5) |
| 2 | 741 (27.4) | 675 (28.9) | 1606 (28.7) | 464 (28.3) | 3486 (28.4) |
| 3+ | 814 (30.1) | 660 (28.2) | 1402 (25.0) | 349 (21.3) | 3225 (26.3) |
| Number of mental health long-term conditions† | |||||
| 0 | 1640 (60.7) | 1706 (73.0) | 4155 (74.3) | 1253 (76.5) | 8754 (71.3) |
| 1 | 936 (34.6) | 582 (24.9) | 1328 (23.8) | 361 (22.0) | 3207 (26.1) |
| 2+ | 128 (4.7) | 49 (2.1) | 108 (1.9) | 24 (1.5) | 309 (2.5) |
| Index of Multiple Deprivation (national quintile groups) | |||||
| 1 (most deprived) | 1496 (55.3) | 1259 (53.9) | 2902 (51.9) | 833 (50.9) | 6490 (52.9) |
| 2 | 1078 (39.9) | 949 (40.6) | 2352 (42.1) | 690 (42.1) | 5069 (41.3) |
| 3, 4 or 5 | 130 (4.8) | 129 (5.5) | 337 (6.0) | 115 (7.0) | 711 (5.8) |
| Gender | |||||
| Female | 1462 (54.1) | 1214 (52.0) | 2875 (51.4) | 853 (52.1) | 6404 (52.2) |
| Male | 1242 (45.9) | 1123 (48.0) | 2716 (48.6) | 785 (47.9) | 5866 (47.8) |
*Angina, asthma, cancer, chronic heart disease, chronic kidney disease, chronic liver disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, myocardial infarction, peripheral arterial disease, stroke/transient ischaemic attack and hypertension.
†Dementia, depression and severe mental health.
GP, general practitioner; PAM, Patient Activation Measure.