Driving factors for the utilisation of healthcare services by people with osteoarthritis in Portugal: results from a nationwide population-based study

Table 1 Healthcare utilisation of total sample and Clusters

	Total^f n (%) 978 (100)	*HighUsers* n (%) 343 (35.07)	*GPUsers* n (%) 272 (27.80)	*LowUsers* n (%) 363 (37.11)	p-value
Cluster Variables^a
GP Appointments
0	126 (12.9)	30 (8.7)	0 (0)	96 (26.4)	< 0.001^d
1–2	379 (38.8)	112 (32.7)	0 (0)	267 (73.6)
≥ 3	473 (48.4)	201 (58.6)	272 (100)	0 (0)
Physiotherapy^b	141 (14.4)	141 (41.1)	0 (0)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d
Orthopaedic Surgeon^b	192 (19.6)	192 (56.0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d
Hospitalisation^b	112 (11.5)	112 (32.7)	0 (0)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d
Healthcare Use
GP appointments, mean ± SD	3.14 ± 3.32	3.38 ± 3.38	4.00 ± 1.17	1.27 ± 0.83	< 0.001^e
Other medical appointments^b
Rheumatology	56 (5.7)	29 (8.5)	12 (4.4)	15 (4.1)	0.026^d
Physiatry	43 (4.4)	39 (11.4)	4 (1.5)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d
Cardiology	136 (13.9)	72 (21.0)	25 (9.2)	39 (10.7)	< 0.001^d
Neurology	50 (5.1)	24 (7.0)	17 (6.3)	9 (2.5)	0.015^d
Internal medicine	77 (7.9)	10.8 (37)	24 (8.8)	16 (4.4)	0.006^d
Surgery	71 (7.3)	55 (5.6)	8 (2.9)	8 (2.2)	< 0.001^d
Psychiatry	45 (4.6)	19 (5.5)	15 (5.5)	11 (3.0)	0.197^d
Other medical appointments^c, mean ± SD	2.41 ± 4.35	4.43 ± 6.65	3.82 ± 4.75	1.82 ± 2.70	< 0.001^e
Joint Surgery^b	20 (2.3)	20 (8.0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d
Psychology^b	13 (1.3)	5 (1.5)	1 (0.4)	7 (1.9)	0.228^d
Technical aids^b	18 (1.8)	17 (5.0)	1 (0.4)	0 (0)	< 0.001^d

Categorical variables are presented as n(%); continuous variables are presented as mean ± standard deviation
GP General Practitioner
^aVariables included in the Two Step Cluster procedure.^bAt least once in the previous 12 months.^cNumber of visits related with the previous 12 months.^dChi-square test for independency; ^eKruskal-Wallis test
^fSample Size is not constant due to participants with validated data in the following variables: Joint Surgery (n = 885) and Technical aids (n = 973)

ISSN: 1472-6963