Table 3.

Patient Utilization of Family Physicians/General Practitioners and Specialists by Education and Income, Population-Weighted Canadian Community Health Survey, 2000–2001, for Ontario, and Ontario Health Insurance Plan Claims, 2002–2004

		Education^a,b					Income^a,c
Variable^d	Age, y	High %	Medium %	Low %	Rate Ratio	95% CI	High %	Medium %	Low %	Rate Ratio	95% CI
CI=confidence interval; FP/GP = family physician/general practitioner.
Note: Rate ratio for high/low education and income.
^a Data from the Canadian Community Health Survey.
^b Educational attainment categorized as low (not completed high school), medium (high school completion and some postsecondary education), and high (university degree). Values missing for 0.7% of respondents.
^c Income defined using total household income adjusted for the number of people living in the household and categorized as low (Statistics Canada’s lowest and lower-middle income), medium (upper-middle income), and high (highest income). For a household with 2 or fewer people, income levels correspond with Canadian dollar incomes of <$30,000, $30,000-59,999, and ≥$60,000, respectively. Values missing for 9.0% of respondents.
^d Data from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan Claims.
FP/GP visits ≥1
Female	20–44	91.1	89.9	91.7	0.99	0.96–1.03	92.4	89.6	89.4	1.03	1.00–1.07
	45–79	91.4	90.9	92.5	0.99	0.96–1.01	91.8	91.5	91.2	1.01	0.98–1.03
Male	20–44	81.9	81.1	79.7	1.03	0.96–1.09	81.8	80.0	81.0	1.01	0.96–1.06
	45–79	87.6	87.0	86.2	1.02	0.98–1.05	84.9	90.0	85.8	0.99	0.95–1.03
All	20–79	87.4	86.9	88.2	0.99	0.97–1.01	87.0	87.4	87.2	1.00	0.98–1.02
FP/GP visits ≥10
Female	20–44	29.3	31.8	42.8	0.68	0.54–0.82	26.9	34.3	33.3	0.81	0.68–0.93
	45–79	38.7	47.5	55.7	0.69	0.63–0.76	37.8	47.4	51.0	0.74	0.66–0.82
Male	20–44	14.0	15.1	20.2	0.69	0.50–0.89	13.4	13.6	19.0	0.70	0.50–0.91
	45–79	33.4	38.5	43.3	0.77	0.69–0.85	31.4	39.3	44.0	0.71	0.62–0.81
All	20–79	27.4	31.7	44.1	0.62	0.58–0.66	25.9	32.8	37.6	0.69	0.64–0.74
Specialist visits ≥1
Female	20–44	52.3	51.5	56.0	0.93	0.82–1.04	52.5	51.5	53.9	0.97	0.88–1.06
	45–79	68.2	70.9	72.9	0.94	0.88–0.99	67.8	70.1	71.9	0.94	0.89–1.00
Male	20–44	39.1	33.2	38.0	1.03	0.86–1.20	37.7	34.9	39.9	0.95	0.82–1.08
	45–79	64.3	63.1	64.6	0.99	0.93–1.06	62.0	66.1	64.2	0.97	0.90–1.04
All	20–79	54.3	52.7	62.3	0.87	0.84–0.91	53.2	54.8	58.2	0.91	0.88–0.95
Specialist visits ≥5
Female	20–44	16.3	17.9	17.9	0.91	0.64–1.18	15.4	17.8	18.8	0.82	0.62–1.01
	45–79	35.1	34.8	36.9	0.95	0.85–1.06	32.2	37.0	37.9	0.85	0.74–0.96
Male	20–44	9.5	9.1	14.3	0.66	0.44–0.89	9.0	10.0	11.0	0.82	0.55–1.08
	45–79	30.5	32.1	32.7	0.93	0.82–1.05	28.2	35.0	35.0	0.81	0.69–0.92
All	20–79	21.4	22.0	29.4	0.73	0.67–0.79	20.0	23.7	26.9	0.74	0.70–0.83