Characteristics of GPs and patients in the clinical vignette associated with the choices of prescribing or continuing various analgesic medicines, despite the GPs’ negative evaluation of their risk–benefit ratios (logistic regressions, results of backward selection)
| Paracetamol and tramadol (n = 1168) | Amitriptyline (n = 1183) | NSAID (ketoprofen) (n = 1183) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Variables | AOR (95% CI) | P-value | AOR (95% CI) | P-value | AOR (95% CI) | P-value |
| Stratification variables | ||||||
| Age (ref <50 years) | ||||||
| 50–58 years | 0.77 (0.54 to 1.12) | 0.17 | 0.85 (0.57 to 1.26) | 0.41 | 0.91 (0.65 to 1.26) | 0.57 |
| >58 years | 0.73 (0.47 to 1.13) | 0.16 | 0.89 (0.56 to 1.43) | 0.64 | 1.65 (1.16 to 2.36) | 0.006 |
| Sex (ref Male) | ||||||
| Female | 1.13 (0.80 to 1.61) | 0.48 | 1.28 (0.88 to 1.86) | 0.20 | 0.87 (0.64 to 1.18) | 0.37 |
| Workload (ref <3067 consultations and visits) | ||||||
| 3067–6028 | 1.22 (0.79 to 1.89) | 0.36 | 1.42 (0.88 to 2.27) | 0.15 | 1.05 (0.73 to 1.51) | 0.80 |
| >6028 | 1.26 (0.77 to 2.06) | 0.36 | 1.21 (0.70 to 2.11) | 0.49 | 0.93 (0.61 to 1.41) | 0.73 |
| GP density of the municipality of practice (ref < −19.3% of the national average) | ||||||
| −19.3% to +17.7% of the national average | 0.72 (0.50 to 1.04) | 0.08 | 1.14 (0.75 to 1.72) | 0.54 | 0.86 (0.62 to 1.18) | 0.35 |
| > +17.7% of the national average | 0.75 (0.48 to 1.17) | 0.20 | 1.28 (0.79 to 2.07) | 0.32 | 1.03 (0.71 to 1.50) | 0.86 |
| Professional characteristics | ||||||
| Practice of complementary medicine (for example, homeopathy, acupuncture) (ref ‘No’) | ||||||
| Yes | 1.62 (1.01 to 2.58) | 0.04 | NR | NR | ||
| Reported proportion of patients with multimorbidity on GP’s list (ref <25%) | ||||||
| 25–50% | 0.98 (0.70 to 1.37) | 0.90 | NR | NR | ||
| >50% | 0.51 (0.28 to 0.92) | 0.02 | NR | NR | ||
| Patients’ characteristics | ||||||
| Age, years (ref 54 years) | ||||||
| 82 | NR | NR | 0.48 [0.36 to 0.63] | <0.001 | ||
| History of stroke (ref ‘No’) | ||||||
| Yes | NR | 0.63 [0.45 to 0.90] | 0.01 | 0.55 [0.42 to 0.72] | <0.001 | |
AOR = adjusted odds ratio. NR = not retained in the backward selection procedure. NSAID = non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug. Ref = reference.