First author, date | Primary health care resource variable | Direction of association with avoidable hospitalisationsa | Supports hypothesisb | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dusheiko 2011 | GPs per population | Not significant | No | Adjusted for facility-level prevalence of diabetes, mental health conditions, heart disease |
Griffiths 2010 | Patients per GP | Significant inverse | No | No adjustment for clinical health risks |
Practice nurses per patient | Significant inverse | No | Adjusted for facility-level unadjusted diabetes prevalence | |
Lavoie 2010 | PHC service availability (service categories: no permanent locally based service, part-time, working hours, 24/7 care) | Significant inverse | Yes | No adjustment for health status. Adjustment for age, gender and location but not reported |
Ng 2010 | GP contacts in the previous 12Â months | Significant inverse | Yes | Adjusted for individual-level health utility, other chronic conditions, prior hospitalisations, lifestyle behaviours |
Lin 2010 | Diabetes outpatient visits | Significant positive | No | Adjusted for number of comorbidities and age |
Bruni 2009 | Use of diabetes outreach service | Significant positive | No | No adjustment for health status. Adjusted for age. Outreach service use was a proxy of disease severity. |
Patients per GP | Significant positive | Yes | ||
Funding incentives to promote better quality care | Significant inverse | Yes | ||
El-Din 2009 | ≥6 PHC clinic visits | Significant positive | No | Adjusted for presence of nephropathy and HbA1c |
Rizza 2007 | Patients per GP | Significant positive | Yes | Adjusted for number of hospitalisations in previous year and length of stay and self-reported health status |
Gulliford 2004, 2002 | GPs per population | Significant inverse | Yes | No adjustment for health status. |
 | Partnership size | Significant inverse | Yes | Adjusted for proportion of patients per health authority with a limiting long-term illness. Partnership size is a proxy for better access to multi-disciplinary care team. |