Table 3

Association of health care utilization with socio-demographic, lifestyle and health characteristics among respondents with back disorders^a

Respondent Characteristic	Family Physician (only)				Chiropractor (any)				Physiotherapist (any)
	Unadjusted		Adjusted		Unadjusted		Adjusted		Unadjusted		Adjusted
	OR	95%CI	OR	95%CI	OR	95%CI	OR	95%CI	OR	95%CI	OR	95%CI
Age
18–34 (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	–	–	–	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
35–49	1.21	1.02–1.43	1.22	1.02–1.45	–	–	–	–	0.99	0.78–1.24	0.84	0.66–1.07
50–64	1.56	1.33–1.83	1.42	1.19–1.69	–	–	–	–	0.88	0.69–1.11	0.76	0.60–0.98
65+	3.05	2.62–3.56	2.18	1.81–2.62	–	–	–	–	0.58	0.47–0.73	0.59	0.45–0.75
Sex
Male (female ref)	0.76	0.69–0.84	0.84	0.75–0.93	–	–	–	–	0.79	0.68–0.92	0.78	0.67–0.91
Education
- less than secondary (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- secondary graduation	0.61	0.51–0.73	0.87	0.72–1.04	2.04	1.56–2.59	1.48	1.17–1.89	1.43	1.07–1.91	1.14	0.85–1.54
- some post-secondary	0.66	0.53–0.83	0.93	0.74–1.18	1.82	1.37–2.41	1.40	1.06–1.87	1.37	0.97–1.92	1.03	0.73–1.44
- post-secondary graduation	0.52	0.45–0.61	0.82	0.71–0.95	2.05	1.68–2.50	1.41	1.15–1.72	2.06	1.68–2.53	1.49	1.19–1.86
Income Quintile
- 1 (lowest- ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- 2	0.63	0.54–0.74	0.72	0.61–0.84	1.89	1.53–2.33	1.64	1.32–2.03	1.44	1.12–1.84	1.50	1.16–1.94
- 3	0.52	0.45–0.62	0.67	0.57–0.79	2.50	2.05–3.07	1.99	1.61–2.46	1.43	1.14–1.80	1.57	1.24–1.99
- 4	0.47	0.40–0.55	0.68	0.57–0.82	2.87	2.36–3.50	2.10	1.70–2.59	1.82	1.45–2.28	1.91	1.51–2.40
- 5 (highest)	0.40	0.34–0.47	0.59	0.49–0.71	2.91	2.39–3.54	1.97	1.60–2.43	2.33	1.85–2.93	2.40	1.86–3.10
Residence
- CMA or CA (urban) (ref)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- strongly influenced MIZ	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.60	0.45–0.78	0.62	0.46–0.83
- moderately influenced MIZ	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.64	0.49–0.83	0.71	0.54–0.93
- weak, uninfluenced MIZ & territories	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.72	0.61–0.85	0.72	0.60–0.86
Ethnicity
- Caucasian (ref)	–	–	–	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- Aboriginal	–	–	–	–	0.70	0.53–0.93	0.76	0.57–1.02	1.05	0.76–1.44	1.09	0.77–1.52
- Other	–	–	–	–	0.68	0.51–0.90	0.69	0.52–0.90	1.28	0.96–1.71	1.41	1.04–1.92
Immigrant
(Canadian-born ref)	1.29	1.11–1.50	1.28	1.09–1.49	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Smoking Status
- never smoked (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- former smoker	1.06	0.93–1.21	1.03	0.89–1.19	0.87	0.74–1.00	0.84	0.72–0.97	1.00	0.84–1.17	1.12	0.95–1.34
- current smoker	1.21	1.04–1.41	1.25	1.06–1.46	0.63	0.52–0.75	0.68	0.57–0.82	0.67	0.54–0.84	0.76	0.60–0.95
BMI
underweight/normal (ref)	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- overweight	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.95	0.80–1.14	0.97	0.81–1.17
- obese	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	0.80	0.67–0.96	0.82	0.68–1.00
No. of co-morbidities
- none (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	–	–	–	–
- 1-2	1.46	1.29–1.66	1.27	1.10–1.45	0.84	0.73–0.98	0.87	0.75–1.00	–	–	–	–
- 3+	2.88	2.48–3.34	1.89	1.57–2.28	0.51	0.42–0.61	0.64	0.52–0.78	–	–	–	–
Physical activity
- inactive (ref)	–	–	–	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- moderately active	–	–	–	–	1.38	1.20–1.60	1.16	1.00–1.35	1.12	0.94–1.35	1.08	0.90–1.30
- active	–	–	–	–	1.37	1.16–1.61	1.07	0.91–1.26	1.37	1.13–1.66	1.29	1.05–1.58
HUI Pain/Function
- no pain or discomfort (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–
- pain prevents no activities	0.93	0.78–1.11	0.77	0.64–0.92	1.10	0.89–1.35	1.29	1.03–1.60	1.29	0.99–1.68	1.46	1.12–1.90
- pain prevents a few activities	0.94	0.81–1.10	0.71	0.60–0.82	1.29	1.07–1.57	1.64	1.35–2.00	1.92	1.58–2.34	2.15	1.75–2.63
- pain prevents some activities	1.12	0.95–1.32	0.73	0.61–0.88	0.87	0.72–1.06	1.18	0.95–1.46	2.11	1.70–2.62	2.57	2.05–3.22
- pain prevents most activities	1.30	1.05–1.60	0.73	0.61–0.88	0.66	0.52–0.85	1.10	0.83–1.45	2.30	1.75–3.00	3.56	2.70–4.69
Self-rated Stress
- not at all/not very (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	–	–	–	–
- a bit	0.81	0.71–0.91	0.87	0.76–0.98	1.28	1.11–1.47	1.30	1.13–1.50	–	–	–	–
- quite a bit/extremely	0.85	0.73–0.98	0.93	0.80–1.09	1.16	0.99–1.36	1.21	1.02–1.44	–	–	–	–
Self-Rated Overall Health
- excellent/very good (ref)	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	1.00	–	–	–	–	–
- good	1.28	1.14–1.44	1.10	0.97–1.24	0.79	0.68–0.91	0.89	0.76–1.03	–	–	–	–
- fair/poor	2.23	1.94–2.56	1.51	1.27–1.79	0.49	0.41–0.58	0.71	0.58–0.87	–	–	–	–

Abbreviations: OR odds ratio; CI confidence interval; ref reference category; MIZ metropolitan influenced zone; BMI body mass index; HUI health utility index

^aProvince of residence included in all final adjusted models. Bolded values are statistically significant at P < 0.05 level. Only variables that were retained in the final models for each dependent variable are reported in the table. Only variables that were retained in the final models for each dependent variable are reported in the table