Table 1 Patient characteristics and unadjusted medical health care utilization of patients with diabetes specified for absence/presence of comorbidity and type of comorbidity (% or mean (standard deviation (SD) (n = 7,499))
From: Comorbidity in patients with diabetes mellitus: impact on medical health care utilization
| Â | DM only | DM + any comorbidity (n = 3,324) | Type of comorbidity | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | DM + only dm-related comorbidity | DM + only non dm-related comorbidity | DM + both types of comorbidity | Â |
Number of comorbidities | - | 1 | 2 | ≥3 |  |  |  |  |
| Â | (n = 4,175) | (n = 2,419) | (n = 718) | (n = 187) | (n = 871) | (n = 1,856) | (n = 597) | Â |
| Â | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | %/Mean (SD) | P-value |
Percentage of total (%) | 55.7 | 32.3 | 9.6 | 2.5 | 11.6 | 24.7 | 8.0 | Â |
Patient characteristics | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
Sex (% male) | 48.4 | 43.7 | 40.4 | 41.2 | 51.2 | 39.0 | 42.5 | 0.000 |
Mean age (in years) | 62.6 | 66.9 | 71.1 | 72.9 | 71.5 | 64.9 | 73.1 | 0.000 |
Educational level (%) # | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
   Low | 43.2 | 49.8 | 55.6 | 59.4 | 56.1 | 47.3 | 58.3 | 0.000 |
   Middle | 46.3 | 42.7 | 40.8 | 35.3 | 37.3 | 45.4 | 37.7 |  |
   High | 10.5 | 7.4 | 3.6 | 5.3 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 4.0 |  |
Mean number of comorbidities | Â | Â | Â | Â | 1.11 | 1.13 | 2.34 | 0.000 |
Medical health care utilization | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
GP care | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
% of patients with GP contacts | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | Â |
Number of contacts with GP (per year) | 8.9 (6.5) | 13.7 (8.60) | 20.8 (12.8) | 28.8 (15.9) | 15.0 (10.6) | 14.3 (9.1) | 23.2 (14.0) | 0.000 |
% of patients with prescriptions | 97.0 | 98.5 | 99.3 | 98.4 | 99.4 | 98.2 | 99.2 | 0.000 |
Number of prescriptions (per year) | 18.1(16.8) | 25.9 (21.0) | 39.8 (31.3) | 57.1 (44.2) | 32.0 (25.3) | 25.6 (23.0) | 44.4 (33.9) | 0.000 |
Ambulatory medical specialist care†|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
% of patients with consultations | 12.3 | 23.0 | 30.4 | 38.0 | 17.8 | 26.5 | 33.3 | 0.000 |
Number of consultations (per year) | 2.1 (1.4) | 2.7 (1.7) | 3.4 (2.0) | 4.0 (2.3) | 2.7 (1.6) | 2.8 (1.8) | 3.6 (2.2) | 0.000 |
Hospital care | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
% of patients with hospital admission†| 5.1 | 14.7 | 23.1 | 31.0 | 13.8 | 16.2 | 26.5 | 0.000 |
Number of hospital admissions (per year) | 1.7 (1.3) | 2.3 (2.1) | 2.9 (2.8) | 3.2 (2.3) | 2.7 (2.3) | 2.3 (2.3) | 2.9 (2.5) | 0.000 |
Average length of stay (per admission) | 6.7 (10.6) | 6.3 (7.7) | 8.0 (7.5) | 11.2 (11.4) | 7.9 (7.8) | 5.8 (7.6) | 9.5 (9.1) | 0.001 |
Total hospital days (per year) | 10.7 (16.3) | 14.8 (21.0) | 22.4 (26.5) | 31.9 (27.3) | 21.1 (24.4) | 14.2 (22.1) | 25.3 (25.6) | 0.000 |