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Table 5 Strength of association between characteristics of Australian specialist doctors and providing remote outreach services, compared with any rural outreach

From: Rural outreach by specialist doctors in Australia: a national cross-sectional study of supply and distribution

Covariates of interest

Providing remote outreach

Univariate odds ratio (95% confidence interval)a

P value

Multivariate odds ratio (95% confidence interval)ac

P value

 

Yes (n)

% yesa

    

Total

149

16

    

Sex

      

Female

37

18

Reference

 

Reference

 

Male

112

15

0.79 (0.52, 1.19)

0.26

0.75 (0.45 to 1.25)

0.27

Age (grouped by 5 years)

149

Mean 51.8 SD 10.13

1.06 (0.97 to 1.16)

0.18

1.17 (1.05 to 1.31)

0.006

Location of residence b

      

Metro

82

14

Reference

 

Reference

 

Inner regional

11

5

0.36 (0.19 to 0.70)

0.002

0.35 (0.17 to 0.70)

0.003

Outer regional/remote

54

62

14.65 (8.59 to 25.00)

<0.0001

10.84 (5.82 to 20.19)

<0.0001

Years of Rural background b

      

Nil

103

17

Reference

 

Reference

 

1 to 10

16

13

0.92 (0.52 to 1.63)

0.77

0.83 (0.42 to 1.65)

0.59

11+

25

12

0.84 (0.52 to 1.35)

0.47

0.68 (0.37 to 1.25)

0.22

Practice arrangements b

      

Public only

48

21

Reference

 

Reference

 

Private - hospital and consulting rooms

72

14

0.50 (0.33 to 0.75)

0.001

0.64 (0.39 to 1.06)

0.08

Private - hospital only

24

15

0.68 (0.39 to 1.17)

0.16

0.65 (0.33 to 1.28)

0.21

Specialist group b

      

Pathologist

5

15

Reference

 

Reference

 

Surgeon

45

20

1.38 (0.49 to 3.90)

0.54

1.86 (0.58 to 5.95)

0.30

Internal physician

29

13

0.98 (0.36 to 2.68)

0.98

1.05 (0.34 to 3.18)

0.94

Other specialist

70

16

1.10 (0.41 to 2.96)

0.84

1.46 (0.49 to 4.37)

0.50

  1. aanalysis includes cross-sectional sampling weight.
  2. b location of residence missing n = 2 for specialists providing remote outreach and n = 5 for those providing other rural outreach.
  3. years rural background missing n = 5 for specialists providing remote outreach and n = 9 for those providing other rural outreach.
  4. practice arrangements missing n = 5 for specialists providing remote outreach and n = 46 for those providing other rural outreach.
  5. specialist group missing n = 0 for specialists providing remote outreach and n = 4 for those providing other rural outreach. Specialist group included specialist types as outlined in Table 1.
  6. cTotal missing from multivariate model n = 69.