Dataset Information

Regular primary care lowers hospitalisation risk and mortality in seniors with chronic respiratory diseases.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Exacerbations in chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are sensitive to seasonal variations in exposure to respiratory infectious agents and allergens and patient factors such as non-adherence. Hence, regular general practitioner (GP) contact is likely to be important in order to recognise symptom escalation early and adjust treatment.

Objective

To examine the association of regularity of GP visits with all-cause mortality and first CRD hospitalisation overall and within groups of pharmacotherapy level in older CRD patients.

Design

A retrospective cohort design using linked hospital, mortality, Medicare and pharmaceutical data for participant, exposure and outcome ascertainment. GP visit pattern was measured during the first 3 years of the observation period. Patients were then followed for a maximum of 11.5 years for ascertainment of hospitalisations and deaths.

Participants

We studied 108,455 patients aged >or=65 years with CRD in Western Australia (WA) during 1992-2006.

Main measures

A GP visit regularity score (range 0-1) was calculated and divided into quintiles. A clinician consensus panel classified levels of pharmacotherapy. Cox proportional hazards models, controlling for multiple factors including GP visit frequency, were used to calculate hazard ratios and confidence intervals.

Key results

Differences in survival curves and hospital avoidance pattern between the GP visit regularity quintiles were statistically significant (p = 0.0279 and p < 0.0001, respectively). The protective association between GP visit regularity and death appeared to be confined to the highest pharmacotherapy level group (P for interaction = 0.0001). Higher GP visit regularity protected against first CRD hospitalisation compared with the least regular quintile regardless of pharmacotherapy level (medium regular: HR = 0.84, 95% CI = 0.77-0.92; 2nd most regular: HR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.67-0.82; most regular HR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.68-0.86).

Conclusions

The findings indicate that regular and proactive 'maintenance' primary care, as distinct from 'reactive' care, is beneficial to older CRD patients by reducing their risks of hospitalisation and death.

SUBMITTER: Einarsdottir K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2896607 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Regular primary care lowers hospitalisation risk and mortality in seniors with chronic respiratory diseases.

Einarsdóttir Kristjana K Preen David B DB Emery Jon D JD Kelman Christopher C Holman C D'Arcy J CD

Journal of general internal medicine 20100428 8

<h4>Background</h4>Exacerbations in chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs) are sensitive to seasonal variations in exposure to respiratory infectious agents and allergens and patient factors such as non-adherence. Hence, regular general practitioner (GP) contact is likely to be important in order to recognise symptom escalation early and adjust treatment.<h4>Objective</h4>To examine the association of regularity of GP visits with all-cause mortality and first CRD hospitalisation overall and within ...[more]

PMID: 20425147

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Project description:ObjectivesTo identify the association between periodontal diseases (gingivitis and periodontitis) and chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease, cardiometabolic disease, autoimmune disease and mental ill health.DesignRetrospective cohort.SettingIQVIA Medical Research Data-UK between 1 January 1995 and 1 January 2019.Participants64 379 adult patients with a general practitioner recorded diagnosis of periodontal disease (exposed patients) were matched to 251 161 unexposed patients by age, sex, deprivation and registration date.Main outcome measuresLogistic regression models accounting for covariates of clinical importance were undertaken to estimate the adjusted OR (aOR) of having chronic diseases at baseline in the exposed compared with the unexposed group. Incidence rates for each outcome of interest were then provided followed by the calculation of adjusted HRs using cox regression modelling to describe the risk of outcome development in each group.ResultsThe average age at cohort entry was 45 years and the median follow-up was 3.4 years. At study entry, the exposed cohort had an increased likelihood of having a diagnosis of cardiovascular disease (aOR 1.43; 95% CI 1.38 to 1.48), cardiometabolic disease (aOR 1.16; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.19), autoimmune disease (aOR 1.33; 95% CI 1.28 to 1.37) and mental ill health (aOR 1.79; 95% CI 1.75 to 1.83) compared with the unexposed group. During the follow-up of individuals without pre-existing outcomes of interest, the exposed group had an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease (HR 1.18; 95% CI 1.13 to 1.23), cardiometabolic disease (HR 1.07; 95% CI 1.03 to 1.10), autoimmune disease (HR 1.33; 95% CI 1.26 to 1.40) and mental ill health (HR 1.37; 95% CI 1.33 to 1.42) compared with the unexposed group.ConclusionsIn this cohort, periodontal diseases appeared to be associated with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular, cardiometabolic, autoimmune diseases and mental ill health. Periodontal diseases are very common; therefore, an increased risk of other chronic diseases represent a substantial public health burden.

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Dataset Information

Regular primary care lowers hospitalisation risk and mortality in seniors with chronic respiratory diseases.

Background

Objective

Design

Participants

Main measures

Key results

Conclusions

Publications

Regular primary care lowers hospitalisation risk and mortality in seniors with chronic respiratory diseases.

Similar Datasets

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