Table 3.

Unadjusted and Adjusted Incident Rate Ratios for Health Care Utilization (All-Cause and Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Condition-Related Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits) and Process of Care Outcomes by Continuity of Primary Care

VariableLevel of Relational Continuity of Pimary CareOverall
(n = 86,475)
Poor
(n = 16,143)
Moderate
(n = 25,948)
High
(n = 44,384)
Health care utilization outcomesAll-cause hospitalizationsPatients, No.7,93811,02015,85234,810
All-cause hospitalizations, No.19,83525,55132,60277,988
Unadjusted incident rate ratio of all-cause hospitalizations (95% CI)1.85
(1.79-1.91)
1.41
(1.37-1.45)
(reference)
Adjusted incident rate ratio of all-cause hospitalizations (95% CI)a1.52
(1.47-1.57)
1.28
(1.25-1.32)
(reference)
ACSC-related hospitalizationsPatients, No.1,0951,3691,8424,306
ACSC-related hospitalizations, No.1,7142,0452,7306,489
Unadjusted incident rate ratio of ACSC-related hospitalizations (95% CI)1.96
(1.77-2.16)
1.35
(1.24-1.48)
(reference)
Adjusted incident rate ratio of ACSC-related hospitalizations (95% CI)b1.58
(1.44-1.74)
1.23
(1.13-1.34)
(reference)
All-cause ED visitsPatients, No.11,23416,23723,68151,152
All-cause ED visits, No.56,80970,14777,659204,615
Unadjusted incident rate ratio of all-cause ED visits (95% CI)2.18
(2.12-2.24)
1.6
(1.56-1.64)
(reference)
Adjusted incident rate ratio of all-cause ED visits (95% CI)a1.78
(1.73-1.83)
1.42
(1.39-1.46)
(reference)
ACSC-related ED visitsPatients, No.1,4141,7312,2725,417
ACSC-related ED visits, No.2,2942,7263,4418,461
Unadjusted incident rate ratio of ACSC-related ED visits (95% CI)2.1
(1.92-2.29)
1.44
(1.33-1.55)
(reference)
Adjusted incident rate ratio of ACSC-related ED visits (95% CI)b1.68
(1.54-1.82)
1.28
(1.19-1.38)
(reference)
RAAS inhibitorPatients, No.9,38714,50024,76148,648
Process of care outcomesUnadjusted odds ratio (95% CI)1.09
(1.05-1.14)
1.0
(0.97-1.03)
(reference)
Adjusted odds ratio (95% CI)1.03
(0.98-1.07)
0.99
(0.96-1.02)
(reference)
Patients, No.7,31812,14721,83141,296
StatinUnadjusted odds ratio (95% CI)0.75
(0.69-0.8)
0.86
(0.81-0.92)
(reference)
Adjusted odds ratio (95% CI)0.8
(0.74-0.86)
0.89
(0.84-0.95)
(reference)
  • ACSC = ambulatory care-sensitive condition; ED = emergency department; IQR = interquartile range; RAAS = renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.

  • a Adjusted by age, sex, household location, median household income quintile, cirrhosis, chronic heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and albuminuria severity.

  • b Adjusted by age, sex, household location, median household income quintile, cirrhosis, peripheral vascular disease, atrial fibrillation, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, diabetes, and albuminuria severity.