Is COPD a rare disease? Prevalence and identification rates in smokers aged 40 years and over within general practice in Germany

Background. According to literature, COPD rates are high inspite of decreasing rates of main risk factors smoking and airpollution in developed countries. general practice is a goodplace to survey unbiased prevalence rates. Ten studies donein general practice over the last 20 years found prevalencerates among smokers between 13.1% and 92.1%. Objective. Prevalence and detection rates of COPD in smokersin German general practice. Methods. Twenty-eight of 34 invited and eligible GP surgeriesin/around Duesseldorf, Germany, took part in the non-announced2-day investigation of all smokers (40 years) who visited thesurgeries. Lung function test by hand-held spirometer, peakflow, sympton part of St George's Respiratory Questionnaire,and data on smoking habits were used. GOLD criteria for COPDwere employed. GPs had to give their diagnosis not knowing thetest results. Results. Of 3157 patients attending the 28 surgeries, 538 weresmokers. Four hundred and thirty-seven of these agreed to participate,5 had to be excluded for medical reasons/unacceptable spirometry.Three hundred and ninety-eight patients have not been previouslydiagnosed with COPD or asthma. Thirty patients were disgnosedwith COPD, making a prevalence of 6.9%, of which 15 patientswere already known as having COPD. Conclusion. Our result of low prevalence differs strongly fromall other studies in general practice. Considering our studydesign which avoids selection bias found in nearly all otherstudies (no pre-announcement, no self-selection of patientsor GPs, high participation rate and testing all patients), westrongly believe that our findings reflect the current situationof COPD in German general practice. Keywords. COPD, detection rate, general practice, prevalence, smoking, spirometry.     

Social inequalities in the use of health care services after 8 years of health care reforms – a comparative study of the Baltic countries

Objective:  In nineties, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have implemented a wide range of changes to health systems. The objective of this paper was to assess social inequalities in utilisation of, and access to, health care services in the late nineties. Methods:  The comparative NORBALT Survey conducted in 1999 is used. Direct standardization and logistic regression was applied to analyse primary, out-patient and hospital care utilisation, and self reported financial barriers, by socio-demographic and geographical variables. Results:  In all three countries social inequalities in utilization were large for out-patient specialist care, smaller or absent with regards to primary care or to hospitalisations. Inequalities were large and consistent in relationship to household income, less so in relationship to educational level. Inequalities in utilization of care were larger in Latvia as well in the self reported barriers to health care in absolute and relative terms were larger. Conclusions:  After 8 years of reforms, important pro-rich inequalities in the use of health services existed. In Latvia, these inequalities were largest, possibly due to higher ratio of cost sharing as compared to Estonia and Lithuania. Submitted: 15 February 2008; revised: 16 July 2008, 04 October 2008; accepted: 08 October 2008     

Men living with obesity in New Zealand: What does this mean for health care in general practice?

IntroductionMore men than women live with overweight and obesity in New Zealand, yet we know little about their everyday lives or their weight management experiences in primary care. This study sought to link the weight management experiences of these men in primary care, with their experiences of life in general as big men.MethodsSemi-structured interviews with participants selected purposively based on a priori criteria were conducted. Interviews were either face to face or via telephone. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed and text coded into a priori codes where established.ResultsFourteen men were interviewed. Analysis of text data revealed three overarching themes. The first, social experience of life as a big man highlighted the significance of social transitions as times of weight gain. The second theme related to experiences of weight management in primary care, with communication the largest sub-theme. Finally, stigma materialised as a key and widespread issue.ConclusionScant attention has been paid to the experiences of overweight and obese men in primary care or the impact of their size on their daily lives. Effective, tailored communication by health professionals in primary care is sorely needed. Times of social transition can be exploited as appropriate instances to offer advice on effective strategies to reduce the risk of weight gain. Men also need to be made aware of their vulnerability for weight gain at these times through effective, gender specific health promotion messages. The widespread nature of stigmatising experiences within personal networks was a concerning finding.     

The reliability of patients'' judgements of care in general practice: how many questions and patients are needed?

OBJECTIVES: To estimate the number of questions and patients that are needed to achieve reliable measurements of patients' judgements of care in general practice. DESIGN: Sensitivity study, using generalisibility theory and real data from surveys of patients. SUBJECTS: 739 patients with chronic illness from 23 general practitioners in The Netherlands. MAIN MEASURES: The reliability coefficients of scores per patient and scores per general practitioner for patients' judgements of nine dimensions of care in general practice. RESULTS: For most dimensions the reliability per patient was 0.80 or higher if three questions were used, but for the evaluation of the "organisation of appointments" and "premises" five questions had to be used. To reach a reliability coefficient of 0.80 per general practitioner three questions and 90 patients, or five questions and 60 patients, were needed for most dimensions. Even more patients or questions were needed for the dimensions "availability for emergencies", premises, and "continuity". A reliability of 0.70 per general practitioner could be achieved if three questions and 60 patients were used, except for availability for emergencies and premises, for which more patients or questions were required. CONCLUSIONS: Surveys of patients can only provide reliable information if the samples of questions and patients are large enough. It is important to distinguish between the reliability of scores per patient and the reliability per care provider, as well as between different dimensions of care. The reliability per patient is good for most dimensions if three questions are used, but a good reliability per care provider requires more questions or patients.     

Risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in women aged 20–50 years consulting in general practice: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: Vitamin D deficiency is often unidentified, although treatment is simple and inexpensive. Our objective was to estimate the influence of concealing clothes and other risk factors for vitamin D deficiency in women aged 20 to 50 years consulting general practitioners. Methods: 13 GPs in the Rhone Alps area planned to recruit 300 women (100 veiled and 200 non-veiled) from January to March 2008. Serum 25(OH)D and PTH were measured in one single laboratory (Biomnis^®) by a radio-immunoassay method. A survey was administered about dietary habits, sun exposure, and quality of life. Results: Among 247 women enrolled, 196 were analysed: 61 wearing concealing clothes (31.2%) and 135 without (68.8%). As expected, 25(OH)D serum level was significantly lower in covered women (20.1 versus 38.9 nmol/l P < 0.001). Of women who did not wear concealing clothing, 39.3% had severe hypovitaminosis D (25(OH)D concentration < 30 nmol/l). Women wearing concealing clothes had more often other known risk factors such as dark skin (P < 0.001), less sunlight exposure, or a higher Body Mass Index (P = 0.009). Besides concealing clothing (OR 6.37, 95% CI: 1.35–30.09), multivariate analyses revealed two independent risk factors for vitamin D deficiency: no full-body sun exposure (OR: 3.06, 95% CI: 1.18–7.94) and no outdoor sports (OR: 2.81, 95% CI: 1.11–7.12) for threshold 52 nmol/l.

Conclusion: Young women consulting their GP had hypovitaminosis D more often than expected. Besides concealing clothing, absence of full body sun exposure during summer and of outdoor sports practice could suggest a possible vitamin D deficiency.     

Influence of chronic diseases on long-term change in physical health: a consultation–survey linkage cohort study in general practice

Purpose  

To investigate the influence of disease severity within cardiovascular disease (CVD) and musculoskeletal (MSK) disorder spectrums on physical health change over 3 years.     

Factors affecting general practitioners' decisions about plain radiography for back pain: implications for classification of guideline barriers – a qualitative study

Background  

General practitioners often diverge from clinical guidelines regarding spine radiography. This study aimed to identify and describe A) factors general practitioners consider may affect their decisions about ordering plain radiography for back pain and B) barriers to guideline adherence suggested by such factors.     

Trends in influenza vaccination uptake among people aged over 74 years, 1997–2000: Survey of 73 general practices in Britain

Background  

Influenza vaccination policy for elderly people in Britain has changed twice since 1997 to increase protection against influenza but there is no information available on how this has affected vaccine uptake, and socioeconomic variation therein, among people aged over 74 years.     

From “retailers” to health care providers: Transforming the role of community pharmacists in chronic disease management

Community pharmacists are the third largest healthcare professional group in the world after physicians and nurses. Despite their considerable training, community pharmacists are the only health professionals who are not primarily rewarded for delivering health care and hence are under-utilized as public health professionals. An emerging consensus among academics, professional organizations, and policymakers is that community pharmacists, who work outside of hospital settings, should adopt an expanded role in order to contribute to the safe, effective, and efficient use of drugs—particularly when caring for people with multiple chronic conditions. Community pharmacists could help to improve health by reducing drug-related adverse events and promoting better medication adherence, which in turn may help in reducing unnecessary provider visits, hospitalizations, and readmissions while strengthening integrated primary care delivery across the health system. This paper reviews recent strategies to expand the role of community pharmacists in Australia, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Scotland, and the United States. The developments achieved or under way in these countries carry lessons for policymakers world-wide, where progress thus far in expanding the role of community pharmacists has been more limited. Future policies should focus on effectively integrating community pharmacists into primary care; developing a shared vision for different levels of pharmacist services; and devising new incentive mechanisms for improving quality and outcomes.     

How patients understand physicians’ solicitations of additional concerns: implications for up-front agenda setting in primary care

In the more than 1 billion primary-care visits each year in the United States, the majority of patients bring more than one distinct concern, yet many leave with “unmet” concerns (i.e., ones not addressed during visits). Unmet concerns have potentially negative consequences for patients’ health, and may pose utilization-based financial burdens to health care systems if patients return to deal with such concerns. One solution to the problem of unmet concerns is the communication skill known as up-front agenda setting, where physicians (after soliciting patients’ chief concerns) continue to solicit patients’ concerns to “exhaustion” with questions such as “Are there some other issues you’d like to address?” Although this skill is trainable and efficacious, it is not yet a panacea. This article uses conversation analysis to demonstrate that patients understand up-front agenda-setting questions in ways that hamper their effectiveness. Specifically, we demonstrate that up-front agenda-setting questions are understood as making relevant “new problems” (i.e., concerns that are either totally new or “new since last visit,” and in need of diagnosis), and consequently bias answers away from “non-new problems” (i.e., issues related to previously diagnosed concerns, including much of chronic care). Suggestions are made for why this might be so, and for improving up-front agenda setting. Data are 144 videotapes of community-based, acute, primary-care, outpatient visits collected in the United States between adult patients and 20 family-practice physicians.     

Trajectories of cognitive decline over 10 years in a Brazilian elderly population: the Bambuí Cohort Study of Aging

Few population-based studies have examined long term cognitive trajectory, and these studies were conducted in high income countries. We investigated the association of age, gender and education with 10-year cognitive trajectory in a well-defined population of elderly using data from the Bambuí Cohort Study of Aging, in Brazil. Cognition was measured using the Mini- Mental State Examination (MMSE). Cohort members underwent annual follow-ups. This analysis was based on 12,206 MMSE measurements from 1,461 (91%) baseline participants. We used mixed effects models to study MMSE as outcome. The key findings from this analysis are that women and people with a higher schooling level at baseline had high scores of MMSE, while older participants started off lower. Regarding cognitive decline, women, older people and those with a higher schooling level declined faster.     

Are ICD-10 codes appropriate for performance assessment in asthma and COPD in general practice? Results of a cross sectional observational study

Background  

The increasing prevalence and impact of obstructive lung diseases and new insights, reflected in clinical guidelines, have led to concerns about the diagnosis and therapy of asthma and COPD in primary care. In Germany diagnoses written in medical records are used for reimbursement, which may influence physicians' documentation behaviour. For that reason it is unclear to what respect ICD-10 codes reflect the real problems of the patients in general practice. The aim of this study was to assess the appropriateness of the recorded diagnoses and to determine what diagnostic information is used to guide medical treatment.     

The rural bite in population pyramids: what are the implications for responsiveness of health systems in middle income countries?

Background

Health services can only be responsive if they are designed to service the needs of the population at hand. In many low and middle income countries, the rate of urbanisation can leave the profile of the rural population quite different from the urban population. As a consequence, the kinds of services required for an urban population may be quite different from that required for a rural population. This is examined using data from the South East Asia Community Observatory in rural Malaysia and contrasting it with the national Malaysia population profile.

Methods

Census data were collected from 10,373 household and the sex and age of household members was recorded. Approximate Malaysian national age and sex profiles were downloaded from the US Census Bureau. The population pyramids, and the dependency and support ratios for the whole population and the SEACO sub-district population are compared.

Results

Based on the population profiles and the dependency ratios, the rural sub-district shows need for health services in the under 14 age group similar to that required nationally. In the older age group, however, the rural sub-district shows twice the need for services as the national data indicate.

Conclusion

The health services needs of an older population will tend towards chronic conditions, rather than the typically acute conditions of childhood. The relatively greater number of older people in the rural population suggest a very different health services mix need. Community based population monitoring provides critical information to inform health systems.

     

An epidemiological study of health care seeking behavior of children under 5 years of age in Algeria: what lessons for improving the health care system?

In many developing countries, dissatisfaction with primary health care has been accompanied by inappropriate use of university teaching hospitals, frequently for benign health problems. This situation is often attributed to the user population who supposedly misunderstands the functioning of health systems. This article describes the health seeking process and outcome of consultations for under-five children in two geographic zones in Algeria (very different in their care networks, and in the socioeconomic and educational characteristics of their populations), using a representative sample of users of public and private health services. During 4 one-week periods in 1991, a cross-sectional study was carried out among families of children and the health personnel they consulted, in all the health structures in the 2 zones. A Franco-Algerian supervisory team prepared consensual definitions of both the seriousness and the urgency of the pathology, as well as of the appropriateness of the health care structure chosen for that condition. The analysis of 1560 consultations shows dysfunctions in the health seeking process: numerous "self-referrals" (94%); unjustified recourse to university hospitals in 29% of cases; important delays before consulting (> or = 1 week in 14% of cases); absence of the mother during the consultation; differences in the mode of recourse according to the child's sex (for equivalent seriousness and urgency, recourse is more frequent to the emergency room and university hospital for boys, but girls are more often hospitalized). Nonetheless, the Algerian supervisors of the research consider that the choice of the health care facility is appropriate in 91% of cases. At the service level, dysfunctions are equally frequent, especially the absence of the transfer of information on the child between different health care professionals. The primary preoccupation of parents is with accessibility (distance, cost), which leads to recommending the revitalizing of small first-line facilities, especially in rural areas, the more so because they are used and appreciated by families.     

‘What kind of life is this?’ Diabetes related notions of wellbeing among adults in eastern Uganda and implications for mitigating future chronic disease risk

Background

Effective prevention and care for type 2 diabetes requires that people link healthy behaviours to chronic disease-related wellbeing. This study explored how people perceive current and future wellbeing, so as to inform lifestyle education.

Methods

Eight focus group discussions and 12 in-depth interviews were conducted in Iganga and Mayuge districts in rural Eastern Uganda among people aged 35–60?years in three risk categories (1) People with diabetes, (2) people at higher risk of diabetes (with hypertension or overweight) and (3) community members without diabetes.

Results

People define wellbeing in three notions: 1) Physical health, 2) Socio-economic status and 3) Aspirational fulfilment. Most people hold the narrower view of wellbeing that focuses on absence of pain. Most overweight participants did not feel their condition as affecting their wellbeing. However, for several people with hypertension, the pains they describe indicate probable serious heart disease. Some people with diabetes expressed deep worry and loss of hope, saying that ‘thoughts are more bothersome than the illness’. Wellbeing among people with diabetes was described in two perspectives: Those who view diabetes as a ‘static’ condition think that they cannot attain wellbeing while those who view it as a ‘dynamic’ condition think that with consistent treatment and healthy lifestyles, they can be well. While many participants perceive future wellbeing as important, people without diabetes are less concerned about it than those with diabetes. Inadequate knowledge about diabetes, drug stock-outs in health facilities, unaffordable healthier food, and contradictory information were cited as barriers to future wellbeing in people with diabetes.

Conclusions

To make type 2 diabetes prevention relevant to healthy people, health education messages should link current lifestyles to future wellbeing. Diabetes patients need counselling support, akin to that in HIV care, to address deep worry and loss of hope.