Participant characteristics
| Characteristic | No. (%) of callers* n = 5886 |
|---|---|
| Sex, female | 3668 (62.3) |
| Age, yr, mean ± SD | 39.3 ± 24.7 |
| Age group, yr | |
| 0–1 | 400 (6.8) |
| 1–4 | 409 (6.9) |
| 5–19 | 490 (8.3) |
| 20–39 | 1882 (32.0) |
| 40–64 | 1642 (27.9) |
| ≥ 65 | 1063 (18.1) |
| Health authority | |
| Fraser | 2271 (38.6) |
| Interior | 994 (16.9) |
| Northern | 270 (4.6) |
| Vancouver Coastal | 1281 (21.8) |
| Vancouver Island | 1065 (18.1) |
| Missing | 5 |
| Attached to FP or practice | 4786 (85.0) |
| Missing or unknown | 257 |
| Rural location | 895 (15.2) |
| Missing | 15 |
| HLBC health concern | |
| Musculoskeletal | 1023 (17.4) |
| Gastroenterology | 965 (16.4) |
| Neurology | 715 (12.1) |
| Cardiovascular | 444 (7.5) |
| Respiratory | 435 (7.4) |
| Other† | 2304 (39.1) |
| Economic dependency quintile | |
| 1 (least deprived) | 1598 (27.2) |
| 2 | 1227 (20.9) |
| 3 | 1046 (17.8) |
| 4 | 1010 (17.2) |
| 5 (most deprived) | 986 (16.8) |
| Missing | 19 |
Note: FP = family physician, HLBC = HealthLink BC, SD = standard deviation.
↵* Unless indicated otherwise. Percentages were calculated after removing missing or unknown values from the denominator.
↵† “Other” collapses the remaining health concern options in HLBC’s list. See Appendix 3, Supplemental Table S1, available at www.cmajopen.ca/content/11/3/E459/suppl/DC1, for a full list of health concerns.