Table 2.

Primary care consultation rates and sample characteristics by multimorbidity cluster for year 2020a

Mental health+Cardiovascular+Pain+Liver+Dependence+Unclustered LTCsNo multimorbidity
n67 04012 01757 7471369329932 921651 773
Total consultations, mean (SD)6.6 (7.4)10.7 (10.4)10.6 (9.4)4.8 (6.4)5.3 (6.9)12.0 (11.8)2.5 (4.1)
GP consultations, mean (SD)5.1 (6.1)7.4 (8.2)7.2 (7.1)3.2 (4.8)3.7 (5.3)8.6 (9.2)1.8 (3.1)
Nurse consultations, mean (SD)0.7 (1.6)1.4 (3.5)1.6 (3.1)0.7 (1.7)0.8 (2.6)1.6 (3.8)0.4 (1.1)
Other consultations, mean (SD)0.8 (1.9)1.9 (3.4)1.9 (3.1)0.8 (2.1)0.8 (2.0)1.9 (3.4)0.3 (1.1)
Face-to-face consultations, mean (SD)4.7 (5.2)7.0 (6.9)7.9 (6.9)3.6 (4.8)3.9 (5.4)8.2 (8.0)1.9 (3.1)
Telephone consultations, mean (SD)1.9 (3.4)3.0 (4.1)2.5 (4.1)1.1 (2.4)1.3 (2.6)3.5 (5.7)0.6 (1.6)
Home consultations, mean (SD)0.0 (0.3)0.7 (2.4)0.2 (1.3)0.0 (0.2)0.0 (0.3)0.3 (1.5)0.0 (0.1)
Number of LTCs, mean (SD)2.5 (0.7)3.9 (2.1)3.5 (1.6)2.3 (0.6)2.6 (0.9)4.6 (2.1)0.2 (0.4)
With polypharmacy, %4.024.418.63.63.820.60.6
Age, years, mean (SD)39.7 (12.6)76.1 (15.5)64.0 (16.5)44.6 (11.5)41.7 (11.2)55.6 (18.9)36.9 (12.2)
White ethnicity, %65.456.543.143.564.260.553.3
  • a 2020 includes data from April 2019 to March 2020. Consultation rate descriptives are similar across time and are available from the authors on request for all data years. Mental health+ includes anxiety and depression; Cardiovascular+ includes heart failure, Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), osteoporosis, atrial fibrillation, coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease, stroke/transient ischaemic attack, and dementia; Pain+ includes osteoarthritis, cancer, chronic pain, hypertension, and diabetes; Liver+ includes chronic liver disease and viral hepatitis; Dependence+ includes alcohol dependence, substance dependence, and HIV; Unclustered LTCs include: Parkinson’s disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, morbid obesity, cognitive and learning disabilities, sickle-cell anaemia, serious mental illness, and epilepsy. LTC = long-term condition. SD = standard deviation.