- FIGURE 1
Health service utilisation in the previous 3 months by self-reported chronic breathlessness in a random sample of the population of South Australia from face-to-face interviews (n=2898). mMRC: modified Medical Research Council breathlessness scale; GP: general practitioner.
- TABLE 1
Demographics of adult respondents by health service utilisation of a random sample of the people of South Australia from face-to-face interviews (n=2898)
Outpatient# care in the previous 3 months p-value Inpatient care in the previous 3 months p-value Total None ≥1 None ≥1 Subjects 770 (26.6) 2128 (73.4) 2716 (93.7) 182 (6.3) 2898 (100) Age years, median (IQR) 41.0 (27.0–53.0) 52.1 (34.0–66.0) <0.001 47.0 (32.0–62.0) 55.5 (39.6–68.0) <0.001 48.0 (32.0–63.0) Sex <0.001 0.3 Male 468 (33.0) 951 (67.0) 1322 (93.2) 97 (6.8) 1419 (49.0) Female 302 (20.4) 1177 (79.6) 1394 (94.3) 85 (5.7) 1479 (51.0) Australia bornf 0.5 0.7 Yes 548 (26.2) 1541 (73.8) 1955 (93.6) 134 (6.4) 2089 (72.1) No 222 (27.5) 585 (72.5) 759 (94.1) 48 (5.9) 807 (27.9) Highest level of education## 0.04 0.6 School 295 (28.4) 743 (71.6) 969 (93.4) 69 (6.6) 1038 (35.9) Trade, apprenticeship, certificate, diploma/degree or higher 475 (25.6) 1381 (74.4) 1743 (93.9) 113 (6.1) 1856 (64.1) Work status¶¶ <0.001 0.004 Working full or part-time, self employed 513 (32.0) 1091 (68.0) 1522 (94.9) 82 (5.1) 1604 (55.4) Not working (home duties, unemployed, retired, student, other) 257 (19.9) 1034 (80.1) 1191 (92.3) 100 (7.7) 1291 (44.6) Living arrangements++ 0.003 0.07 Married/de facto 454 (24.7) 1382 (75.3) 1709 (93.1) 127 (6.9) 1836 (63.4) Separated, divorced, widowed, never married 315 (29.8) 743 (70.2) 1003 (94.8) 55 (5.2) 1058 (36.6) Region of residence 0.02 1.0 Metropolitan 547 (25.4) 1607 (74.6) 2018 (93.7) 136 (6.3) 2154 (74.3) Non-metropolitan 223 (30.0) 521 (70.0) 697 (93.7) 47 (6.3) 744 (25.7) Socioeconomic indexes for area quintile 0.2 0.2 1 (most disadvantaged) 203 (26.8) 554 (73.2) 702 (92.7) 55 (7.3) 757 (26.1) 2 139 (24.8) 421 (75.2) 515 (92.1) 44 (7.9) 559 (19.3) 3 158 (29.8) 373 (70.2) 502 (94.4) 30 (5.6) 532 (18.4) 4 135 (23.9) 431 (76.1) 536 (94.5) 31 (5.5) 567 (19.6) 5 (most advantaged) 135 (28.0) 348 (72.0) 460 (95.2) 23 (4.8) 483 (16.7) Body mass index (BMI)§§ <0.001 <0.001 Not overweight¶ 354 (32.4) 738 (67.6) 1035 (94.8) 57 (5.2) 1092 (40.0) Overweight+ 259 (26.7) 710 (73.3) 919 (94.8) 50 (5.2) 969 (35.5) Obese§ 102 (15.3) 565 (84.7) 602 (90.3) 65 (9.7) 667 (24.5) mMRC <0.001 <0.001 <0.001 0 741 (28.0) 1902 (72.0) 2496 (94.4) 147 (5.6) 2643 (91.2) 1 27 (15.6) 146 (84.4) 158 (91.3) 15 (8.7) 173 (6.0) 2–4 2 (2.4) 80 (97.6) 62 (75.6) 20 (24.4) 82 (2.8) Data expressed as n (%) unless otherwise noted. mMRC: modified Medical Research Council breathlessness scale. #: includes visits to general practice or specialist (other than mental health specialist) or presentation to the emergency department; ¶: non-overweight weight category includes underweight (BMI ≤18.5 kg·m−2, n=50; 1.7% of cohort); +: BMI >25, ≤30 kg·m−2; §: BMI >30 kg·m−2; “not stated” for f: n = 2; ##: n = 4; ¶¶: n = 3; ++: n = 4; §§: 170.
- TABLE 2
Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for severity of chronic breathlessness as correlates of health service utilisation (outpatient# care and inpatient care) in the previous 3 months
Outpatient# care OR (95% CI) Inpatient care OR (95% CI) mMRC Unadjusted Adjusted¶ Unadjusted Adjusted+ 0 Ref Ref Ref Ref 1 2.1 (1.4–3.2) 1.8 (1.1–2.9) 1.6 (0.9–2.8) 1.4 (0.8–2.6) 2–4 18.3 (4.0–83.6) 9.0 (2.0–41.5) 5.5 (3.2–9.2) 4.2 (2.4–7.4) mMRC: modified Medical Research Council breathlessness scale. #: includes visits to general practice or specialist (other than mental health specialist) or presentation to the emergency department; ¶: adjusted for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), highest level of education, region of residence; +: adjusted for age, sex and BMI.
- TABLE 3
Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for severity of chronic breathlessness as correlates of any medical consultation, frequent medical consultations and any emergency department contact in the previous 3 months
Any medical consultation
OR (95% CI)Frequent# (≥3) medical consultations OR (95% CI) Any emergency department visits OR (95% CI) mMRC Unadjusted Adjusted¶ Unadjusted Adjusted+ Unadjusted Adjusted§ 0 Ref Ref Ref Ref Ref Ref 1 2.1 (1.4–3.3) 1.8 (1.1–3.0) 2.4 (1.7–3.3) 1.8 (1.3–2.6) 1.3 (0.8–2.2) 1.0 (0.5–1.8) 2–4 18.5 (4.1–84.7) 9.1 (2.0–42.1) 7.2 (4.6–11.4) 4.6 (2.8–7.5) 4.1 (2.4–7.0) 3.6 (2.0–6.3) mMRC: modified Medical Research Council breathlessness scale. #: includes visits to general practice or specialist (other than mental health specialist) or presentation to emergency department; ¶: adjusted for age, sex, highest level of education, region of residence and body mass index (BMI); +: adjusted for age, sex, region of residence and BMI; §: adjusted for age, sex and BMI.
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary Material
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Supplementary material 00415-2021.SUPPLEMENT
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