Table 2

Characteristics of patient-physician relationship

Type of institutions

Clinic

(n = 362*)

Hospital

(n = 325*)

Characteristic

n (%)

n (%)

p value

Frequency of the visits

> once a month

59 (17.3)

22 (7.1)

<0.001

once a month

215 (63.0)

160 (51.6)

once in 2 months

27 (7.9)

89 (28.7)

once in 3 months or more

40 (11.7)

39 (12.6)

Length of the relationship

less than a year

39 (11.3)

62 (19.7)

0.001

1-2 years

69 (19.9)

72 (22.9)

3-5 years

99 (28.6)

96 (30.5)

≥6 years

139 (40.2)

85 (27.0)

* The numbers of each item do not sum up to the total because there were some missing or invalid data for each question.

Inoue et al. BMC Family Practice 2010 11:56   doi:10.1186/1471-2296-11-56