From: Patient motives for contacting out-of-hours care in Denmark: a cross-sectional study
 | OUT-OF-HOURS-PRIMARY CARE | EMS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Children (N = 961) | Adults (N = 910) | Children (N = 89) | Adults (N = 886) | |
Characteristics of contact | ||||
 Time of contact, weekend1 | 56.8 | 57.5 | 58.4 | 55.0 |
 Type of contact, telephone advice | 56.3 | 52.8 | 14.5 | 10.7 |
 Age patient (mean) | 4.0 | 49.0 | 3.9 | 61.6 |
 Main health problem, self-assessed | n = 1342 | n = 1084 | n = 134 | n = 996 |
  - Symptoms/complaints | 77.9 | 68.1 | 76.9 | 69.5 |
  - Infections | 7.2 | 8.8 | 0.7 | 0.8 |
  - Trauma | 4.9 | 7.6 | 13.4 | 17.8 |
  - Other | 10.1 | 15.6 | 9.0 | 11.9 |
 Duration of symptom | ||||
  - < 1 h | 14.4 | 16.1 | 94.3 | 66.1 |
  - 1–24 h | 52.1 | 52.0 | 4.6 | 30.1 |
  - > 24 h | 33.4 | 31.9 | 1.2 | 3.8 |
 Decision maker | ||||
  - Patient/parent | 97.3 | 84.5 | 89.9 | 45.0 |
  - Family/other | 2.7 | 15.6 | 7.9 | 46.9 |
  - Unknown | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 8.1 |
Characteristics of patient/guardian2 | ||||
 Age (years) | ||||
  - 18–39 | 73.9 | 36.0 | 74.4 | 16.8 |
  - 40–64 | 26.1 | 40.6 | 24.4 | 31.1 |
  - > 64 | 0.0 | 23.4 | 1.2 | 52.1 |
 Sex, female | 80.5 | 62.5 | 72.1 | 47.2 |
 Education | ||||
  - Low | 4.9 | 15.0 | 10.8 | 26.7 |
  - Middle | 34.2 | 47.7 | 31.3 | 45.6 |
  - High | 60.9 | 37.3 | 57.8 | 27.7 |
 Ethnicity | ||||
  - Native | 85.4 | 88.9 | 78.3 | 85.7 |
  - Western migrants | 7.6 | 6.0 | 10.8 | 8.9 |
  - Non-western migrants | 7.0 | 5.1 | 10.8 | 5.5 |
 Marital status, single | 9.3 | 30.6 | 21.4 | 39.3 |
 Employment, not working | 26.9 | 45.5 | 28.9 | 71.2 |
 Health status, self-assessed, poor | 5.3 | 23.4 | 6.0 | 36.6 |