Table 3.

Summary of OOHS use patterns, user characteristics associated with increased use and common reason for encounter/presenting condition

Time of peak use	References
Weekday: 18:00–23:00 hours	15 19–21 27 45 52 64 76 84 89 90
Weekends>weekdays	15 20 21 32 52 65 76 90–93
Within weekends: Sunday morning>afternoon/evening	15 19 20
00:00–08:00 hours: weekend>weekday	15 21
User characteristics
Age: <5 years, children (5–16 years), and >65 years most frequent users	15–17 19–21 23 25 26 28 30–32 38 39 43 44 65 76 90 94–99
Gender: female>male	15 16 18 19 21 23 24 26 27 31 32 36 38 39 41 43 44 52 64 65 67 77 84 88 90 92 93 95 96 98–101
Socioeconomic status: lower>higher	15 22 28–33 38
Presence of chronic disease	28 35–38
Reason for encounter/ p resenting symptoms
Perceived urgency	34 40–42 74 90 99 102
Symptoms of <24 hours’ duration	17 92 93
Respiratory, skin, abdominal, musculoskeletal or unspecified symptoms	17–19 25 35 43 59 70 81 84 89 92 93 101 103–105
Infection related (viral, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI), diarrhoea and vomiting)	19 24 26 59 64 67 76 77 98 105 106
More mental health problems compared with in-hours primary care	35
More severe psychiatric disease	36 38 45 46
Cancer and palliative care issues, including pain and infection	47–51
Geographical proximity and daytime practice
Closer to OOHS>further away from OOHS	30 32 38 52–54
Rural use>urban use	55 56
Rural use<urban use	32
Higher users of daytime services more likely to use OOHS	37 58
Perceived difficulty accessing daytime services	34 59 60

OOHS, out-of-hours health services.