title: Factors associated with patient satisfaction with primary care in Europe: results from the EUprimecare project.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  EUprimecare is a study funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union, aimed at analysing the quality of the different models of primary care in Europe. The objective of this study was to describe and analyse the determinants associated with patient satisfaction in primary care in Europe.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted telephone population surveys among primary care users in each EUprimecare consortium country (Germany, Spain, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy and Lithuania). The survey was conducted with 3020 patients and the questionnaire included sociodemographic variables, health status, and use and satisfaction with primary care services. We undertook descriptive analyses, bivariate correlations and an ordinal regression model to study the direct relationship between levels of satisfaction and the explanatory variables for demographics, health status and health services for patients. We present the regression coefficients (β) with 95% confidence intervals and associated tests of statistical significance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the respondents was 51 years (SD 14.1). We found significant associations between the level of satisfaction and age (β = 0.008), specialist visits (β = -0.030), not having a general practitioner (β = 0.70), not measuring weight, cholesterol and blood pressure (β = 0.52), country (β1 Germany = -1.08 and β2 Lithuania = -0.60; β3 Hungary = 0.50 and β4 Italy = 0.53) and a better perception of health status (β = 0.33). Specialist visits had a negative association with satisfaction.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Overall, the results indicate factors that may be related to greater satisfaction with primary care services: age, visits to a specialist, having a doctor assigned to primary care and measurement of control parameters are associated with a better perception of the care received.
authors.affiliation: Agency for Health Technology Assessment, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Agencia de Evaluación de Tecnologías Sanitarias, Av/Monforte de Lemos, 5, Pabellón 4, 28029 Madrid, Spain. carlos.sanchez@isciii.es.
authors.forename: Carlos Alberto
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Piedra
authors.affiliation: Agency for Health Technology Assessment, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francisco Javier
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Prado-Galbarro
authors.affiliation: Agency for Health Technology Assessment, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Red de Investigación en Servicios, Red de Servicios de Salud Orientados a Enfermedades Crónicas (REDISECC), Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Sonia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: García-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Agency for Health Technology Assessment, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Red de Investigación en Servicios, Red de Servicios de Salud Orientados a Enfermedades Crónicas (REDISECC), Madrid, Spain; Medicina Preventiva y Salud Pública, Universidad de Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Antonio Sarría
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Santamera
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006296:Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010808:Physical Examination; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors