Frequent attendance, socioeconomic status and burden of ill health

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate whether associations between frequent attendance in general practice and socioeconomic circumstances remain significant after taking detailed account of underlying ill health, perceived social support and social isolation.Methods: Data from a community health survey of 1477 people in their late forties and late sixties living in the West of Scotland were examined for associations between frequent attendance, socioeconomic circumstances, self-reported ill health and social support using logistic regression. The main outcome measure was the probability of being a frequent attender (defined pragmatically after initial review of the distribution as 10+ visits a year) with 95% confidence intervals.Results: Frequent attendance was significantly associated with: greater numbers of serious conditions reported (adjusted odds ratio 1.47; 99% CI 1.091.98); higher levels of anxiety (adjusted OR 1.14; 1.04-1.25); and lower levels of self-assessed health (adjusted OR 0.67; 0.54-0.83). No meas...