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Table 3 GP/specialist/allied health consultations in the 2 years preceding first IHD admission in Aboriginal versus non-Aboriginal patients

From: Patterns of Medicare-funded primary health and specialist consultations in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians in the two years before hospitalisation for ischaemic heart disease

 

All

Age group less than 55 years

Aboriginal

Non-Aboriginal

p-value

Aboriginal

Non-Aboriginal

p-value

1. Total MBS items, n (%)

47,047 (3.5)

1,301,191 (96.5)

 

27,805 (59.1)

228,849 (17.6)

 

▪ Professional consults of total items, n (%)

30,926 (65.7)

773,278 (59.4)

< 0.001

18,482 (66.5)

133,607 (58.4)

< 0.001

▪ Non-professional consults of total items, n(%)

16,121 (34.3)

527,913 (40.6)

 

9323 (33.5)

95,242 (41.6)

 

2. Types of consults or services of total items, n (%)

▪ Total GP records (of total MBS items)

28,392 (60.4)

569,763 (43.8)

< 0.001

17,222 (61.9)

100,581 (44.0)

< 0.001

▪ Total specialist records (of total MBS items)

2443 (5.2)

204,002 (15.7)

 

1207 (4.3)

33,142 (14.5)

 

▪ Allied health services (of total MBS records)

134 (0.3)

4074 (0.3)

 

68 (0.2)

740 (0.3)

 

▪ Other MBS services -pathology

14,127 (30.0)

439,202 (33.7)

 

8174 (29.4)

78,754 (34.4)

 

▪ Other services

1951 (4.1)

84,150 (6.5)

 

1134 (4.2)

15,632 (6.8)

 

Mean # MBS items per day per patient (note pts. can have two consults/day)

1.8 ± 1.2

2.0 ± 1.6

< 0.001

1.8 ± 1.2

1.9 ± 1.6

< 0.001

3. Types of professional consults, n(%)

30,926 (65.7)

773,278 (59.4)

< 0.001

18,482 (66.5)

133,607 (58.4)

< 0.001

▪ Number of GP consults

28,392 (91.8)

569,763 (73.7)

< 0.001

17,222 (93.2)

100,581 (75.3)

< 0.001

▪ Number of specialist consults

2443 (7.9)

204,002 (26.4)

< 0.001

1207 (6.5)

33,142 (24.8)

< 0.001

▪ Number allied health consults

134 (0.4)

4074 (0.5)

0.025

68 (0.4)

740 (0.5)

0.001

Sub-total of professional consults

30,926

773,278

< 0.001

18,482

133,607

< 0.001

GP consult category, n (%)

▪ GP consult (short-prolonged) category unspecified

8319 (29.3)

160,511 (28.2)

< 0.001

5063 (29.4)

19,926 (19.8)

< 0.001

▪ Short

492 (1.7)

6185 (1.1)

 

280 (1.6)

1048 (1.0)

 

▪ Standard

15,039 (53.0)

336,162 (59.0)

 

9104 (52.9)

65,965 (65.6)

 

▪ Long

4087 (14.4)

61,871 (10.9)

 

2505 (14.6)

12,498 (12.4)

 

▪ Prolonged

455 (1.6)

5034 (0.9)

 

270 (1.6)

1144 (1.1)

 

4. Patient counts

Patients with no MBS records), n (%)

102 (7.4)

999 (3.7)

0.035

80 (5.8)

410 (1.5)

0.008

Number of patients with MBS records, n (%)

1269 (92.5)

25,961 (95.3)

 

832 (60.6)

6706 (24.6)

 

5. GP consults, person-based

Patients with no GP consults, n (%)

75 (5.9)

590 (2.3)

< 0.001

52 (6.3)

146 (2.2)

< 0.001

Patients with ≥1 GP consults, n (%)

1194 (94.1)

25,371 (97.7)

 

780 (93.7)

6560 (97.8)

 

Mean GP visits-person-based, ±SD

19.1 ± 32.6

13.9 ± 15.1

< 0.001

17.2 ± 25.3

13.6 ± 14.4

< 0.001

Mean GP costs/person, dollars ±SD

696.15 ± 780.9

653.72 ± 584.9

0.007

668 ± 908.7

507.9 ± 543.7

< 0.001

Specialist consults, person-based

Patients with no specialist consults, n (%)

825 (65.0)

7376 (28.4)

< 0.001

587 (70.6)

2799 (41.7)

< 0.001

Patients with specialist consults, n (%)

444 (35.0)

18,585 (71.6)

 

245 (29.4)

3907 (58.3)

 

Mean specialists visits, person-based

1.7 ± 4.1

7.6 ± 14.4

< 0.001

0.7 ± 1.6

2.6 ± 5.9

< 0.001

Mean specialist costs/person, dollars±SD

662.5 ± 808.7

1365.26 ± 1658.3

< 0.001

642.0 ± 817.2

1060.1 ± 1480.4

0.009