Cancer patients’ use of primary care out-of-hours services: a cross-sectional study in Norway

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flowchart of contacts for cancer patients in contact with out-of-hours services (consultation, home visit, simple, telephone or nursing service) in 2014.

Figure 2. Cancer patients’ (n = 5752) relative distribution of contact types (both cancer related and contacts with other diagnoses) in out-of-hours services in 2014.

Table 1. Contacts for cancer patients (cancer related and contacts with other diagnoses) and other patients in out-of-hours services 2014 by contact type, time, municipality centrality, and procedures.

	Cancer patients							Other patients
	Cancer-related contact (n = 9637)		Contact with other diagnoses (n = 10 583)			Total (n = 20 220)		All contacts (n = 2,005,975)
Category	n	%	n	%	p^a	n	%	n	%	p^a
Contact type					<0.001					<0.001
Consultation	4151	43.1	4419	41.8		8570	42.4	1,343,639	67.0
Home visit	1613	16.7	1252	11.8		2865	14.2	62,337	3.1
Simple	252	2.6	264	2.5		516	2.6	44,756	2.2
Telephone	2152	22.3	3246	30.7		5398	26.7	487,779	24.3
Nursing service	1469	15.2	1402	13.2		2871	14.2	67,464	3.4
Time					0.004					<0.001
Weekday daytime	913	9.5	1000	9.4		1913	9.5	251,775	12.6
Weekday evening/night	4419	45.9	5091	48.1		9510	47.0	977,565	48.7
Weekend	4305	44.7	4492	42.4		8797	43.5	776,635	38.7
Municipality centrality					<0.001					<0.001
Least central	3631	37.7	3477	32.9		7108	35.2	275,514	13.7
Less central	1092	11.3	1127	10.6		2219	11.0	138,730	6.9
Somewhat central	2042	21.2	2344	22.1		4386	21.7	504,101	25.1
Central	2345	24.3	3083	29.1		5428	26.8	704,295	35.1
Missing^b	527	5.5	552	5.2		1079	5.3	383,335	19.1
Procedures
Laboratory total	2122	22.0	2166	20.5	0.007	4288	21.2	536,290	26.7	<0.001
C-reactive protein	1935	20.1	1974	18.7	0.010	3909	19.3	461,617	23.0	<0.001
Cell count	327	3.4	264	2.5	<0.001	591	2.9	23,823	1.2	<0.001
ECG	236	2.4	494	4.7	<0.001	730	3.6	89,817	4.5	<0.001
Glucose	225	2.3	209	2.0	0.078	434	2.1	44,107	2.2	0.613
Surgical procedures	627	6.5	728	6.9	0.182	1355	6.7	141,313	7.0	0.144
Sick leave	66	0.7	44	0.4	0.009	110	0.5	54,629	2.7	<0.001
Long consultation	2405	25.0	2415	22.8	<0.001	4820	23.8	504,449	25.1	<0.001
Consulting with next of kin	244	2.5	53	0.5	<0.001	297	1.5	8674	0.4	<0.001

^a Pearson Chi-square p value.

^b Not included in statistical analysis.

Table 2. Home visits and consultations in cancer-related contacts for out-of-hours services 2014, by age (n = 5764), main cancer diagnosis (n = 5764) and additional diagnoses noted in the same contact (n = 2533).

	Home visit (n = 1613)		Consultation (n = 4151)
Category	n	%	n	%	p^a
Age (years)					<0.001
0-40	35	2.2	239	5.8
41-60	206	12.8	947	22.8
61-80	901	55.9	2254	54.3
>80	471	29.2	711	17.1
ICPC main cancer diagnosis					<0.001
A: General and unspecified	229	14.2	414	10.0
B: Blood, blood forming  organs, immune mechanism	96	6.0	406	9.8
D: Digestive	429	26.6	837	20.2
R: Respiratory	364	22.6	693	16.7
U: Urological	90	5.6	265	6.4
X: Female genital	88	5.5	420	10.1
Y: Male genital	125	7.7	562	13.5
Other	192	11.9	554	13.3
ICPC additional diagnosis					<0.001
Pain	70	10.9	277	14.5
Infection/fever	113	17.6	481	25.2
Respiratory	55	8.6	154	8.1
Genitourinary	39	6.1	169	8.8
Neurological	33	5.1	70	3.7
Gastrointestinal	60	9.3	166	8.7
Haematological	16	2.5	53	2.8
Cardiovascular	41	6.4	99	5.2
Musculoskeletal	8	1.2	37	1.9
Psychiatric	27	4.2	69	3.6
Death	82	12.8	10	0.5
Other	98	15.3	326	17.1

^a Pearson Chi-square p value.

Table 3. Odds ratio (OR) for home visit compared with consultation in contacts for cancer patients in out-of-hours services in 2014.

Variables	Unadjusted OR	95% CI	p	Adjusted OR	95% CI	p
Sex patient
Male	Ref.			Ref.
Female	0.93	0.85, 1.01	0.092	0.96	0.87, 1.06	0.426
Age patient
0–40	Ref.			Ref.
41–60	1.44	1.07, 1.94	0.017	1.42	1.02, 1.96	0.04
61–80	2.71	2.04, 3.59	<0.001	2.68	1.95, 3.67	<0.001
>80	4.48	3.36, 5.96	<0.001	4.72	3.42, 6.50	<0.001
Cancer-related contact
No	Ref.
Yes	1.37	1.26, 1.49	<0.001	1.51	1.37, 1.66	<0.001
Municipality centrality
Least central	Ref.
Less central	0.59	0.50, 0.69	<0.001	0.61	0.52, 0.72	<0.001
Somewhat central	0.64	0.57, 0.73	<0.001	0.67	0.59, 0.76	<0.001
Central	0.81	0.73, 0.91	<0.001	0.84	0.75, 0.95	0.004
Sex physician
Male	Ref.
Female	0.85	0.77, 0.94	0.002	0.86	0.77, 0.97	0.011
Age physician
20–29	Ref.
30–39	0.82	0.71, 0.94	0.005	0.78	0.67, 0.91	0.002
40–49	0.71	0.61, 0.83	<0.001	0.65	0.55, 0.77	<0.001
50–59	0.67	0.57, 0.79	<0.001	0.66	0.55, 0.79	<0.001
≥60	1.61	1.35, 1.92	<0.001	1.53	1.26, 1.86	<0.001