Diagnoses and visit length in complementary and mainstream medicine

Table 4 Registered visit length: a comparison between inclusion and repeat visits of CM physicians and in general practice (Multilevel regression analyses)*

Visit length	Homeopathy (N = 502)		Acupuncture (N = 808)		Naturopathy (N = 529)		General practice (N = 2628)**		p-value
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Inclusion visit^1,2	4.54⁶	0.07	3.52⁵	0.08	4.33	0.08	1.11	0.03	² <.0005;⁵ <.0005; ⁶ <.0005
First repeat visit^1,2	2.35⁶	0.08	2.86	0.09	2.73	0.1	1.11	0.03	² <.0005; ⁶ <.0005
Third repeat visit^1,2	2.34⁶	0.09	2.87	0.09	2.75	0.1	1.11	0.03	² <.0005; ⁶ <.0005
Fifth repeat visit^1,2	2.55	0.1	2.89	0.09	2.58	0.1	1.11	0.03	² <.0005

*Controlled for age, gender and education level of patients
** Data from the DNSGP-2 patient registration in 2001(sub dataset for observation study)
¹ Measure of visit length: 1 = 1-15 minutes; 2 = 16-30 minutes; 3 = 31-45 minutes; 4 = 46-60 minutes; 5 = > 60 minutes
² significant difference between all CM visit length and visit length in general practice
³ significant difference between a single CM visit length and visit length in general practice
⁴ significant difference between homeopathic visit length and naturopathy visit length
⁵ significant difference between acupuncture visit length and naturopathy visit length
⁶ significant difference between homeopathic visit length and acupuncture visit length

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