| Characteristic | Non–palliative care physicians, no. (%)* n = 9456 | Palliative care physicians, no. (%)* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall† n = 276 | 10% to < 50%‡ n = 167 | ≥ 50%‡ n = 109 | ||
| Age, yr | p = 0.8 | p = 0.04 | ||
| Mean ± SD | 50.4 ± 11.8 | 50.6 ± 13.1 | 51.9 ± 13.7 | 48.5 ± 11.9 |
| Sex | p < 0.001 | p = 0.1 | ||
| Female | 3665 (38.8) | 135 (48.9) | 75 (44.9) | 60 (55.0) |
| Male | 5791 (61.2) | 141 (51.1) | 92 (55.1) | 49 (45.0) |
| Practice location | p < 0.001 | p = 0.5 | ||
| Urban | 8250 (87.2) | 265 (96.0) | 159 (95.2) | 106 (97.2) |
| Rural | 1077 (11.4) | 9 (3.3) | 7 (4.2) | ≤ 5 |
| Missing data | 129 (1.4) | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 |
| Practice location by health region | p < 0.001 | p < 0.001 | ||
| Erie St. Clair | 358 (3.8) | 7 (2.5) | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 |
| South West | 694 (7.3) | 13 (4.7) | 6 (3.6) | 7 (6.4) |
| Waterloo Wellington | 501 (5.3) | 18 (6.5) | 13 (7.8) | ≤ 5 |
| Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant | 969 (10.2) | 24 (8.7) | 16 (9.6) | 8 (7.3) |
| Central West | 444 (4.7) | 6 (2.2) | 6 (3.6) | ≤ 5 |
| Mississauga Halton | 687 (7.3) | 17 (6.2) | 10 (6.0) | 7 (6.4) |
| Toronto Central | 1092 (11.5) | 73 (26.4) | 30 (18.0) | 43 (39.4) |
| Central | 1107 (11.7) | 28 (10.1) | 21 (12.6) | 7 (6.4) |
| Central East | 901 (9.5) | 22 (8.0) | 18 (10.8) | ≤ 5 |
| South East | 435 (4.6) | 7 (2.5) | 6 (3.6) | ≤ 5 |
| Champlain | 1064 (11.3) | 39 (14.1) | 22 (13.2) | 17 (15.6) |
| North Simcoe Muskoka | 358 (3.8) | 7 (2.5) | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 |
| North East | 477 (5.0) | 10 (3.6) | 9 (5.4) | ≤ 5 |
| North West | 240 (2.5) | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 |
| Missing data | 129 (1.4) | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 | ≤ 5 |
| Full-time equivalent | p < 0.001 | p = 0.02 | ||
| ≥ 1.0 | 5908 (62.5) | 118 (42.8) | 75 (44.9) | 43 (39.4) |
| < 1.0 | 3496 (37.0) | 145 (52.5) | 89 (53.3) | 56 (51.4) |
| Missing data | 52 (0.5) | 13 (4.7) | ≤ 5 | 10 (9.2) |
| % of claims that were for palliative care | 0.5 | 35.7 | 21.2 | 82.8 |
Note: GP/FP = general practitioner/family physician, SD = standard deviation. *Unless stated otherwise. Differences in means were compared with analysis of variance; differences in proportions were compared with χ2 test. †Represents all palliative care physicians identified using the 10% algorithm (10% cut-off for proportion of claims being for palliative care); p values are for comparison between non–palliative care physicians and palliative care physicians. ‡Represents all palliative care physicians identified using the 10% algorithm, stratified by those with 10%–< 50% of claims and ≥ 50% of claims being for palliative care; p values are for comparisons between these 2 palliative care groups.