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Table 3 Regression coefficients (standard errors) of general practitioner and patient characteristics (number of general practitioners = 193) for physical components score

From: Gender differences in health-related quality of life of Australian chronically-ill adults: patient and physician characteristics do matter

Parameters (reference category)

Multilevel estimates for the main model

Male

Female

Complete cases

Imputed full model

Complete cases

Imputed full model

(n = 768)

(n =1018)

(n =823)

(n =1163)

Fixed effects

    

Intercept

35.89

34.61

37.60

36.47

Patient characteristics

    

Age, years

    

40-59 (18–39)

−6.18 (2.44)*

−4.43 (2.39)

−2.87 (1.92)

−1.40 (1.60)

>59 (18–39)

−7.62 (2.47)†

−5.82 (2.41)*

−5.75 (1.96)†

−4.52 (1.62)†

Good or very good health (very bad, bad or fair health)

11.11 (0.69)‡

10.92 (0.75)‡

12.93 (0.70)‡

12.37 (0.67)‡

Own home & car (rented & don’t own a car)

2.14 (1.72)

2.79 (1.52)

4.07 (1.45)†

4.23 (1.38)†

Own home only (rented & don’t own car)

−0.83 (2.88)

−0.38 (2.98)

1.56 (1.69)

2.03 (1.65)

Own car only (rented & don’t own a car)

1.74 (1.83)

2.57 (1.72)

1.13 (1.63)

1.32 (1.57)

College / university (elementary / high school)

1.68 (0.73)*

1.65 (0.70)*

−0.19 (0.78)

0.05 (0.75)

Employed patients (unemployed1)

7.66 (1.15)‡

7.29 (1.04)‡

4.22 (0.99)‡

4.05 (1.08)‡

Retired patients (unemployed1)

3.90 (1.11)‡

3.86 (1.03)‡

0.09 (0.87)

0.08 (0.91)

Married/cohabiting (single/separated/divorced/widowed)

0.36 (0.88)

0.03 (0.87)

0.75 (0.75)

1.20 (0.72)

Two or more conditions (one condition)

−2.20 (0.68)†

−2.57 (0.69)‡

−1.79 (0.74)*

−1.56 (0.72)*

Smoker (non-smoker)

−0.54 (1.25)

−0.43 (1.23)

0.67 (1.14)

0.67 (1.13)

Overall satisfaction with care

0.07 (0.32)

0.13 (0.30)

−0.84 (0.33)*

−0.78 (0.38)*

General Practitioner characteristics

    

Female (Male)

1.52 (0.98)

1.48 (1.04)

2.19 (0.80)†

1.59 (0.78)*

Overseas qualified (qualified in Australia)

1.39 (0.88)

1.37 (0.99)

0.47 (0.85)

−0.09 (0.83)

Years in the current practice 6–15 (< 6)

−0.27 (0.91)

−0.44 (0.93)

−0.80 (0.89)

−0.58 (0.85)

> 15 (< 6)

0.02 (0.90)

0.08 (0.92)

1.05 (0.95)

1.20 (1.05)

Years as a GP

    

19–24 (< 19)

−0.80 (0.95)

−1.04 (0.96)

0.62 (0.89)

−0.43 (0.87)

> 24 (< 19)

0.61 (0.99)

−0.04 (1.0)

−0.57 (1.00)

−0.91 (1.01)

Size 1–3 GPs in the practice (4 or more GPs)

1.04 (0.72)

0.82 (0.81)

−1.54 (0.75)*

−1.10 (0.72)

Urban practice (Rural practice)

−0.18 (0.70)

−0.09 (0.69)

−0.27 (0.76)

−0.05 (0.74)

Random effects

    

Variance between general practitioners (standard errors)

0.00 (0.00)

1.15 (1.60)

0.00 (0.00)

0.93 (1.56)

% variance explained

100

70.2

100

90.3

Variance between patients (standard errors)

81.84 (4.18)‡

84.66 (4.81)‡

91.49 (4.51)‡

93.29 (5.21)‡

% variance explained

38.6

36.3

37.4

36.3

  1. Note:*P <0.05, † P <0.01, ‡ P<0.001.
  2. 1Includes patients looking for work, studying full-time, looking after family and unable to work due to sickness or disability.
  3. Patient characteristics were collected independently using PACIC for the same respondents.