Determinants of no-show appointment behavior: the utility of multivariate analysis.

A multitude of determinants have been identified as predictive of broken appointments. The majority of prior studies have been limited to univariate analysis of the relationship between predictors and appointment keeping behavior. The present report studied 25 independent predictors of no-show behavior using both univariate and multivariate analyses. A total of 579 kept appointments and 84 failed appointments were analyzed. Results of univariate analysis indicated the following significant relationships with appointment behavior: age, ethnicity, marital status, mode of payment, chronic illness, telephone in house, type of care, prior visits to center, cost of care, transportation to center, physician ethnicity, and linguistic capability. However, multiple logistic function analysis revealed only six significant associations: type of care, chronic illness, linguistic capability, mode of payment, physician-patient sex differences, and marital status of the patient. Multivariate analysis may yield a more accurate and clinically useful model of no-show behavior. For example, language barrier may be more of a problem than the race of the patient. Prospective studies might benefit from these considerations.