Immigrant and native regular general practitioners in Norway. A comparative registry-based observational study

Figures & data

Table 1. Comparison of the characteristics of regular GP's and their lists according to immigrant or native background.

	Native GPs (n = 3223) Mean (SD) or Percentage	Immigrant GPs(n = 728) Mean (SD) orpercentage	95% CI of the difference/P from χ^2 test
Characteristics of the GP
Age (years)	49.0 (10.1)	45.9 (8.8)	2.3, 3.9
Women, %	31.8	37.8	0.002
Age at immigration (years)	n.a.	30.9 (9.3)	–31.1, –30.5
Years living in Norway	n.a.	15.2 (10.4)	28.3, 29.4
Completed their studies in Norway, %	90.1	44.9	< 0.0001
Norwegian citizenship, %	97.7	38.3	< 0.0001
Descendant of immigrants or born abroad, %	7.5	100	< 0.0001
Characteristics of the GP's lists
Desired number of patients	1270 (384)	1277 (405)	–39, 23
Actual number of patients	1210 (398)	1118 (406)	60, 124
Number of patients into the list per three months	38 (127)	56 (142)	–28, –7
Number of patients out of the list per three months	23 (36)	31 (37)	–11, –5
Closed list, %	60.4	32.3	< 0.0001
Work in periphery, %	10.2	20.3	< 0.0001
More than 100 in difference between desired and actual number of patients, %	17.3	40.1	< 0.0001
Working alone, %	13.7	22.3	< 0.0001
Salary versus fee-for-service, %	5.9	13.0	< 0.0001
Patients in the list
Percentage of women	50.5 (9,7)	49.5 (9,3)	0.2, 1.8
Percentage of immigrants	7.1 (7.2)	12.9 (12.9)	–6.5, –5.1
Percentage of immigrants and descendants	8.5 (8.9)	15.6 (16.8)	–8.0, –6.3
Percentage of patients 61 years or older	20.0 (9.0)	18.5 (8.7)	0.8, 2.2
Patient's income (NOK)^a	330 034 (59 844)	311 486 (47 783)	13 891, 23 204

n.a., non-applicable.

^aOnly patients with income more than 0 NOK included.

Table 2. Characteristic of the immigrant regular GPs working in Norway and their lists in 2008 according to their geographical background.

				Asia, Africa	North America
	Nordic countries	West Europe	East Europe	Latin America	and Oceania
	(n = 174)	(n = 185)	(n = 119)	(n = 238)	(n = 12)
Characteristics of the GP
Age in years, mean (SD)	47.1 (9.9)	46.7 (9.0)	45.2 (8.2)	44.4 (7.9)	50.7 (7.9)
Women, %	28.7	45.4	65.5	23.9	50.0
Age at immigration, mean (SD)	34.0 (8.8)	32.7 (7.9)	30.8 (7.3)	27.4 (10.4)	28.3 (8.5)
Norwegian citizenship, %	8.6	10.3	63.9	70.6	8.3
Studied in Norway, %	20.7	25.4	73.1	63.4	50.0
Working alone, %	23.0	21.1	12.6	27.3	25.0
Receive salary, %	12.1	21.1	11.8	8.4	8.3
Work in periphery, %	27.6	24.3	15.1	15.1	8.3
Characteristics of the GP's lists
List limit, mean (SD)	1254 (404)	1139 (312)	1259 (315)	1407 (466)	1360 (472)
Actual number of patients, mean (SD)	1137 (421)	997 (326)	1135 (376)	1179 (442)	1319 (453)
More than 100 in difference, %	36.2	37.3	30.3	51.3	16.7
Patients into the list per three months, mean (SD)	59 (167)	40 (112)	56 (135)	67 (149)	34 (17)
Patients out of the list per three months, mean (SD)	30 (43)	24 (45)	28 (19)	39 (31)	34 (23)
Closed list, %	40.2	35.7	38.7	19.3	58.3
Patients in the list
Women, %	49.9 (8.9)	50.7 (9.5)	52.1 (9.4)	46.7 (8.9)	50.8 (11.2)
Percentage of immigrants, mean (SD)	8.0 (7.1)	8.3 (6.6)	15.3 (13.6)	18.9 (16.3)	11.4 (9.7)
Percentage of immigrants and descendants, mean (SD)	9.4 (9.2)	9.4 (7.7)	19.0 (18.0)	23.5 (21.5)	14.1 (12.6)
Percentage of patients 61 years and older, mean (SD)	19.4 (8.3)	19.5 (8.2)	18.6 (9.4)	17.2 (9.0)	15.7 (8.7)
Mean (SD) patient's income (NOK)^a	307 864 (50 368)	309 525 (48 429)	307 854 (39 948)	317 022 (46 805)	320 593 (78 855)

^aOnly patients with income more than 0 NOK included.

Figure 1. Mean percentage of patients with different immigrant background according to the regular GP's immigrant background (All patients with any immigrant background included).

Table 3. Characteristics of the lists and patients in the lists for immigrant regular GPs compared to native Norwegians. Binary logistic regression. OR and 95% CI.

	Non-adjusted		Adjusted^a
	OR	95% CI	OR	95% CI
Characteristics of the GP's lists
Closed list (ref. open list)	0.3	0.3–0.4	0.3	0.3–0.4
Patient shortage > 100 patients (ref. < 100 patients)	3.2	2.7–3.8	3.1	2.6–3.7
Working in group (ref. alone)	0.6	0.4–0.7	0.5	0.4–0.6
Salary (ref. fee-for-service)	2.4	1.9–3.1	2.0	1.5–2.6
Patients in the list
Over 50% women (ref. less or equal to 50%)	0.8	0.7–1.0	0.6	0.5–0.7
Over mean percentage (8.2%) of immigrants (ref. less or equal)	2.7	2.3–3.2	3.2	2.7–3.8
Over mean percentage (9.8%) of immigrants and descendants (ref. less or equal)	2.4	2.0–2.8	2.9	2.4–3.5
Over mean percentage (19.7%) of elderly patients (ref. less or equal)	0.7	0.6–0.9	0.8	0.6–0.9

^aAdjusted for regular GP's gender, age, and centrality = 0 (rural).

Table 4. Impact of time living in Norway among immigrant regular GPs (n = 728). Binary logistic regression, OR and 95% CI comparing number of years living in Norway over or under the median (12 years).

	Adjusted^a
	OR	95% CI
Characteristics of the GP's list
Closed list (ref. open list)	1.1	0.8–1.6
Patient shortage > 100 patients (ref. < 100 patients)	0.6	0.4–0.9
Working in group (ref. alone)	0.9	0.6–1.3
Salary (ref. fee-for-service)	0.6	0.3–1.0
Patients in the list
Over 50% women (ref. less or equal to 50%)	1.5	1.0–2.3
Over mean percentage (8.2%) of immigrants (ref. less or equal)	1.4	1.0–2.0
Over mean percentage (9.8%) of immigrants and descendants (ref. less or equal)	1.6	1.1–2.3
Over mean percentage (19.7%) of elderly patients (ref. less or equal)	0.6	0.4–0.8

^aAdjusted for regular GP's gender, age and centrality = 0 (rural).