Having a family doctor was associated with lower utilization of hospital-based health services

Table 6 Effects of primary care doctor choice on monthly consultation and health service utilization rates

		RFD vs NRD†	RFD vs ORD†	ORD vs NRD†	Other significant independent variables (p < 0.05)‡
	Overall significance	Coefficient (95% C.I.)
Negative Binomial Regression Results
Monthly consultation rate	<0.001	*0.473	0.046	*0.427	Seasonality, sex, general health, chronic disease, drinking, occupation, educational level, district
Monthly consultation rate		(0.332,0.614)	(−0.098,0.191)	(0.273,0.581)
Poisson Regression Results
Monthly emergency service visit rate	0.158	0.253	−0.099	0.352	Seasonality, sex, age, general health, long-term medication, occupation, household monthly income, educational level, district
Monthly emergency service visit rate		(−0.140,0.647)	(−0.490,0.292)	(−0.038,0.742)
Monthly hospital admission rate	0.360	−0.047	−0.253	0.206	Seasonality
Monthly hospital admission rate		(−0.764,0.670)	(−1.013,0.507)	(−0.553,0.965)	Seasonality

Notes: RFD = Regular family doctor group; ORD = Other regular doctor group; NRD = No regular doctor group.
*Statistically significant (p < 0.05) difference.
†as reference category in Poisson/Negative Binomial regression , +ve: positive relationship, −ve: negative relationship.
‡Seasonality with phase I data coded as Summer and phase 2 data coded as Winter was entered as a covariate, and adjustment for confounding factors including socio-demographics, health status, chronic morbidity and lifestyle (Additional file 1).

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