Prevalence of persons contacting general practice for psychological stress in Denmark

Abstract

A total of 2% of the working-age population contacted the GP during a six-month period for psychological stress. The prevalence of psychological stress varies with age, sex and characteristics of both the regional area and the GP. Key points Psychological stress is a leading cause of days on sick leave, but its prevalence has been based on population surveys rather than on assessment by health care professionals. • This study found that during six months 2.1% of all working-age persons have at least one contact with the GP regarding psychological stress. • The six months prevalence of psychological stress was associated with patient age and sex, GP age and sex, practices' number of GPs and patients per GP, and area education and urbanization level.

General practitioners’ management of patients with psychological stress: audit results from Denmark

“…if coded with bodily symptoms not included in the search. Overinclusion of patients seems less likely since the GPs only confirmed the stress and included the patient in around ¼ of the cases identified by the search [11]. Furthermore, the prevalence and age-and sexdistribution of patients with stress in the study matches the large labour force surveys in the UK and Denmark [1,11,21,22], indicating a representative sample for countries where free GP services is associated with high frequency of contacts due to mental problems [14].…”

“…Invitations were mailed to all GPs in the region of Southern Denmark (N = 807), and 59 GPs (7.3%) from 34 practices (9.3%) participated in the audit. The participants' average age, the number of listed patients, and the proportion of solo practitioners did not differ significantly from that of the total region, but more female GPs participated (61% vs 49%) [11]. One practice with three GPs was excluded for reporting twice the proportion of patients with stress compared to the practice with the second highest proportion.…”

“…Patients with stress are frequent in general practice [11][12][13][14] and may need to consult the general practitioner (GP) for several reasons. Some may seek evaluation and treatment of psychological and physical symptoms in relation to stress [15,16].…”

General practitioners’ management of patients with psychological stress: audit results from Denmark

“…if coded with bodily symptoms not included in the search. Overinclusion of patients seems less likely since the GPs only confirmed the stress and included the patient in around ¼ of the cases identified by the search (11). Furthermore, the prevalence and age-and sex-distribution of patients with stress in the study matches the large labour force surveys in the UK and Denmark (1, 11,21,22), indicating a representative sample for countries where free GP services is associated with high frequency of contacts due to mental problems (14).…”

General practitioners’ management of patients with psychological stress: audit results from Denmark

“…The included age group was chosen based on the age of majority and retirement in Denmark. The searched ICPC codes included among others anxiety, depression, sleeping problem, work problem, and non-specified psychological problem as described in a previous paper (11). The GPs were asked to review the list and select the patients whom they considered to have stress based on information in the EMR and any further information the GP had.…”