Patient satisfaction with primary care: an observational study comparing anthroposophic and conventional care

Table 2 Demographic attributes, health status, expectations and reasons for seeking the physician

			CON			AM			P-values (X²-Test)
			#	%	CI ^a	#	%	CI ^a
Demographic attributes	Patients	Number	1363	43.8		583	51.2		P = 0.005
	Patient age	Mean (Standard Deviation)	53.9 (17.21)			51.7 (16.75)			P = 0.104
	Female Patients*	Proportion	804	59.0		440	75.6		P < 0.001
	Language*	German	821	60.6		506	87.2		P < 0.001
		French	382	28.2		46	7.9
		Italian	89	6.6		9	1.6
		Other	63	4.6		19	3.3
	Education*	Proportion higher education	330	24.7		223	38.6		P < 0.001
Self rated health status	General health	Excellent	63	4.7		19	3.3		P = 0.224
		Very good	269	20.2		102	17.8
		Good	697	52.4		301	52.5
		Fair	254	19.1		130	22.7
		Poor	46	3.5		21	3.7
	Chronic conditions*	> 3 month	630	46.2	43.5–48.9	308	52.8	47.4–58.3	P = 0.015
	Severe conditions		240	19.8	17.7–21.9	122	22.3	18.0–26.6	P = 0.332
Expectations	Healing*	yes	668	49.0		349	59.9		P < 0.001
		no	695	51.0		234	40.1
	Relief	Yes	566	58.5		251	43.1		P = 0.438
		no	797	41.5		332	56.9
Reasons for consultation*	Pragmatic reasons		743	64.7		101	17.9		P < 0.001
	Quality of the physician		381	33.1		186	33.0
	Preferred procedures		25	2.2		277	49.1

* = significant difference (p < 0.05) to CON-group in a multivariate logistic model
^a = 95% Confidence Interval

ISSN: 1477-7525