Associationsa between medical necessity and other reasons for referral, stratified by GP sex
| Reasons for referral | Referrals by male GPs | Referrals by female GPs | All referrals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medically necessaryb, = 0 | Less medically necessaryc, = 1 | OR (95% CI) | Medically necessaryb, = 0 | Less medically necessaryc, = 1 | OR (95% CI) | ORa (95% CI) | |
| n = 241 | n = 135 | n = 376 | n = 142 | n = 77 | n = 219 | n = 595 | |
| Perceived deficient medical knowledge | 4.06d (1.89 to 8.72) | 1.25 (0.60 to 2.60) | 2.24d (1.34 to 3.76) | ||||
| Agree, % | 10.0 | 27.4 | 28.9 | 31.2 | |||
| Disagree, % | 90.0 | 72.6 | 71.1 | 68.8 | |||
| To reassure the patient | 13.44d (4.77 to 37.88) | 1.35 (0.49 to3.70) | 4.12d (2.23 to 7.63) | ||||
| Agree, % | 2.9 | 28.2 | 15.5 | 26.0 | |||
| Disagree, % | 97.1 | 71.8 | 84.5 | 74.0 | |||
| Patient preference | 3.28d (1.81to 5.96) | 2.08 (0.97 to 4.49) | 2.66d (1.69 to 4.19) | ||||
| Agree, % | 29.1 | 61.5 | 46.5 | 53.3 | |||
| Disagree, % | 70.9 | 38.5 | 53.5 | 46.8 | |||
↵a Analysed by multivariable multilevel logistic regression, allowing for clustering at GP level, adjusted for the reasons ‘perceived deficient medical knowledge’, ‘to reassure the patient’, ‘patient preference’, and ‘common practice’.
↵b The highest agreement level of medically necessary: ‘corresponds very well.
↵c The three lowest agreement levels of medically necessary ‘does not correspond’, ‘corresponds to a limited extent’, and ‘corresponds fairly well’ were merged.
↵d P<0.05. OR = odds ratio.