| Group, by proximity of residence to specialist; % of respondents (95% CI)* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristic | Total | Close proximity to specialist† | Further from specialist‡ | p value |
| Sex, male | 49.9 (46.0–53.8) | 50.6 (44.2–57.0) | 49.2 (45.0–53.4) | 0.7 |
| Age category, yr | 0.04 | |||
| 40–64 | 48.8 (45.6–52.0) | 50.8 (45.0–56.5) | 46.8 (42.5–51.1) | |
| 65–74 | 26.9 (24.1–30.0) | 22.8 (18.4–27.9) | 31.1 (27.3–35.1) | |
| ≥ 75 | 24.3 (21.7–27.1) | 26.4 (21.7–31.8) | 22.2 (19.3–25.3) | |
| Level of education | < 0.001 | |||
| Did not graduate from high school | 21.7 (19.0–24.5) | 15.6 (11.9–20.2) | 27.7 (24.3–31.4) | |
| High school graduation | 17.3 (14.6–20.4) | 16.9 (12.7–22.1) | 17.7 (14.5–21.5) | |
| Some post-secondary education (did not graduate) | 43.2 (39.4–47.0) | 42.5 (36.5–48.8) | 43.8 (39.6–48.2) | |
| University graduation | 17.9 (14.7–21.5) | 25.0 (19.3–31.7) | 10.7 (8.4–13.7) | |
| Household income, $ | 0.001 | |||
| < 25 000 | 15.2 (12.9–17.8) | 13.0 (9.4–17.7)‡ | 17.5 (14.6–20.7) | |
| 25 000–39 999 | 18.5 (15.9–21.3) | 16.3 (12.6–20.9) | 20.6 (17.6–23.9) | |
| 40 000–70 000 | 28.6 (25.5–31.9) | 25.4 (20.6–31.0) | 31.7 (27.7–36.0) | |
| > 70 000 | 37.8 (33.9–41.8) | 45.3 (38.7–52.0) | 30.2 (26.3–34.5) | |
| Has prescription drug insurance | 85.9 (82.8–88.6) | 85.8 (80.0–90.0) | 86.1 (82.9–88.8) | 0.9 |
| Married/common-law | 67.0 (63.2–70.6) | 68.1 (61.8–73.8) | 65.8 (62.0–69.5) | 0.5 |
| Country of birth Canada | 76.2 (72.3–79.7) | 69.1 (62.2–75.2) | 83.4 (78.9–87.0) | < 0.001 |
| Province of residence | < 0.001 | |||
| British Columbia | 44.5 (41.4–47.7) | 39.6 (34.0–45.6) | 49.4 (45.3–53.5) | |
| Alberta | 31.7 (28.8–34.6) | 35.4 (30.1–41.1) | 27.9 (24.4–31.6) | |
| Saskatchewan | 10.8 (9.5–12.2) | 8.1 (6.2–10.6) | 13.5 (11.2–16.2) | |
| Manitoba | 13.1 (11.2–15.2) | 16.9 (13.4–21.0) | 9.2 (7.2–11.8) | |
| Ethnic origin, white | 87.0 (83.4–89.9) | 82.8 (76.3–87.8) | 91.2 (88.2–93.5) | 0.004 |
| Chronic condition | ||||
| Hypertension | 81.9 (78.9–84.5) | 80.7 (75.4–85.1) | 83.0 (79.4–86.1) | 0.4 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 26.2 (23.7–28.9) | 24.5 (20.1–29.5) | 28.0 (24.4–31.9) | 0.3 |
| Heart disease | 21.4 (18.7–24.3) | 19.7 (15.5–24.7) | 23.1 (19.5–27.1) | 0.3 |
| Stroke | 7.9 (6.4–9.6) | 7.0 (4.7–10.2)‡ | 8.8 (6.6 – 11.6) | 0.4 |
| Additional chronic disease | 63.0 (59.3–66.6) | 62.1 (55.5–68.4) | 63.9 (59.5–68.1) | 0.7 |
| Self-perceived health excellent/very good/good | 77.1 (74.1–84.5) | 80.3 (75.2–84.5) | 73.9 (69.9–77.5) | 0.05 |
| Smoking status | < 0.001 | |||
| Never | 30.8 (27.0–34.9) | 38.3 (31.8–45.2) | 23.2 (19.9–26.9) | |
| Occasional/former | 53.0 (48.8–57.2) | 46.8 (40.3–53.3) | 59.4 (54.9–63.7) | |
| Daily | 16.2 (13.2–19.7) | 15.0 (10.4–21.1)‡ | 17.4 (14.1–21.3) | |
| Alcohol use | 0.3 | |||
| None | 26.0 (22.6–29.6) | 26.9 (21.7–32.9) | 25.0 (21.4–29.0) | |
| Occasional | 19.8 (16.8–23.2) | 17.4 (13.1–22.7) | 22.2 (18.4–26.7) | |
| Regular | 54.2 (50.2–58.2) | 55.7 (49.2–62.0) | 52.8 (48.4–57.1) | |
| Body mass index ≥ 30 | 69.2 (65.3–72.9) | 70.7 (64.1–76.6) | 67.7 (63.6–71.6) | 0.4 |
Note: CI = confidence interval. *All proportions and 95% CIs are weighted and bootstrapped as per Statistics Canada guidelines. †Respondents with a relevant medical specialist in the same census metropolitan area as their home were considered to live “in close proximity” to such specialists; other participants were considered to live “further” from specialists. ‡Results must be interpreted with caution, as they may be unreliable (coefficient of variation falls between 16% and 33.3%).