Variation in referrals from primary care to scheduled paediatric services in North and East Scotland -a cross-sectional study

Table 3 Output from a multivariate model whose outcome was number of referrals/1000children/y

		Relative % difference in referral rate/1000/year	p value
Distance from hospital in tertiles	1	1.01 [0.74, 1.37]	0.501
	2	1.25 [0.84, 1.85]
	3	Reference
Deprivation Index (1 = most)	1 and 2	1.55 [1.09, 2.21]	0.048
	3	1.26 [0.90, 1.77]
	4 and 5	Reference
Practice status	2 C	1.19 [0.79, 1.82]	0.399
Practice status	Not 2 C	Reference	0.399
Per 1000 children in practice aged ≤ 14 years		-0.8 [-0.5, -1.1]	< 0.001
Numbers of partners in the practice		0.91 [0.86, 0.97]	0.005

Data from NHS Grampian, Highland and Tayside. The outcome was skewed (mean 60, standard deviation 142) and log transformed prior to analysis. The results are presented as relative difference. The model included a variable for the NHS board (p = 0.130). The model did not include GP with extended role in paediatrics since data were missing in 39 practices. The R² for the model was 0.24

ISSN: 1472-6963