Patient-related factors associated with tendency to contact emergency services in the non-urgent scenarios
| Factors | Ambulance versus all other options | ED versus all other options, excluding ambulance | ||
| Multivariable model | Multivariable model | |||
| OR (95% CI) | n | OR (95% CI) | n | |
| Health | ||||
| General health | P=0.122 | P=0.294 | ||
| Excellent | 1 | 197 | 1 | 180 |
| Very good | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.5) | 661 | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.5) | 614 |
| Good | 0.8 (0.4 to 1.4) | 723 | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.3) | 652 |
| Fair | 1.4 (0.7 to 2.7) | 325 | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.6) | 263 |
| Poor | 0.9 (0.4 to 2.1) | 142 | 0.7 (0.4 to 1.3) | 115 |
| Can’t choose | 1.5 (0.4 to 6.3) | 14 | 0.3 (0.1 to 1.1) | 10 |
| Long-term limiting illness | P=0.851 | P=0.09 | ||
| None | 1 | 1224 | 1 | 1117 |
| Non-Limiting | 1.1 (0.7 to 1.7) | 457 | 1.0 (0.8 to 1.3) | 401 |
| Limiting | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.7) | 381 | 1.4 (1.0 to 2.0) | 316 |
| Health knowledge | P<0.001 | P=0.582 | ||
| Difficulty understanding information | 1.5 (1.2 to 1.9) | 1.00 (0.9 to 1.3) | ||
| Anxiety | ||||
| Worry that pain is a sign of something serious | P=0.003 | P=0.467 | ||
| Not likely at all | 1 | 246 | 1 | 224 |
| Not likely | 0.6 (0.3 to 1.3) | 830 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.3) | 777 |
| Fairly likely | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.4) | 622 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.4) | 536 |
| Very likely | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.4) | 295 | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.8) | 239 |
| It depends | 1.8 (0.8 to 4.4) | 69 | 1.2 (0.6 to 2.2) | 58 |
| Missing | ||||
| Need to get back to normal if off work | P=0.129 | P=0.14 | ||
| Will not see a doctor | 1 | 1457 | 1 | 1330 |
| Will see a doctor if work loss | 1.4 (0.9 to 2.0) | 452 | 1.3 (1.1 to 1.6) | 386 |
| Will see a doctor if any to work or sleep | 1.5 (0.9 to 2.5) | 153 | 1.1 (0.7 to 1.7) | 118 |
| Missing | ||||
| Inability to cope | ||||
| Overwhelmed when having a health problem | P=0.002 | P=0.328 | ||
| SD | 1 | 436 | 1 | 411 |
| Disagree | 1.0 (0.6 to 1.7) | 797 | 1.0 (0.7 to 1.2) | 739 |
| Neither | 2.2 (1.3 to 3.7) | 458 | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.6) | 379 |
| SA/Agree | 2.0 (1.1 to 3.6) | 281 | 0.8 (0.6 to 1.3) | 223 |
| Never a problem | 1.4 (0.6 to 3.3) | 90 | 1.3 (0.8 to 2.2) | 82 |
| Missing | ||||
| Have someone to care for them if ill | P=0.485 | P=0.27 | ||
| Definitely | 1 | 1121 | 1 | 1011 |
| Probably | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.3) | 622 | 0.8 (0.7 to 1.1) | 558 |
| Probably not | 1.2 (0.8 to 1.9) | 257 | 0.9 (0.6 to 1.2) | 217 |
| Don’t know | 1.3 (0.6 to 2.7) | 62 | 1.3 (0.7 to 2.5) | 48 |
| Missing | ||||
| Check with family and friends for what to do | P=0.021 | P=0.48 | ||
| Not very likely | 1 | 375 | 1 | 330 |
| Not likely | 0.9 (0.5 to 1.4) | 552 | 0.8 (0.6 to 1.2) | 492 |
| Fairly likely | 0.6 (0.3 to 0.9) | 747 | 0.8 (0.6 to 1.1) | 683 |
| Very likely | 1.1 (0.6 to 1.7) | 388 | 0.9 (0.7 to 1.3) | 327 |
| Missing | ||||
Factors not statistically significant in univariate analysis for either ambulance or ED: not confident in deciding when to see a doctor; did not see a doctor in the past when the health problem was serious; does not take medication to stop pain.
emboldened numbers are where 95% CI does not include 1.
SA, strongly agree; SD, strongly disagree.