Symptoms in family practice

Stewart, Moira; Freeman, Tom; Hartman, Tim olde; Boven, Kees van; Leger, Daniel W.; Cejic, Sonny

doi:10.46747/cfp.6711803

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Surprisingly, despite their clinical relevance in general practice, only limited attention is paid to symptom diagnoses as specific symptom labels in research, education and practice. 5,6 Previous epidemiologic studies have shown that symptoms such as cough, back pain, and fatigue are among the leading diagnoses in GP settings. 7,8 Of all diagnoses made in general practice, symptoms that cannot be attributed to a pathophysiological disease or syndrome ranged between 25% and 64%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patients’ Characteristics and General Practitioners’ Management of Patients with Symptom Diagnoses

et al. 2023

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Introduction: Symptom diagnoses are diagnoses used in primary care when the relevant diagnostic criteria of a disease are not fulfilled. Although symptom diagnoses often get resolved spontaneously without a clearly defined illness nor treatment, up to 38% of these symptoms persist more than 1 year. It is largely unknown how often symptom diagnoses occur, which symptoms persist, and how general practitioners (GPs) manage them.Aim: Explore morbidity rates, characteristics and management of patients with nonpersistent (≤1 year) and persistent (>1 year) symptom diagnoses.Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed in a Dutch practice-based research network including 28,590 registered patients. We selected symptom diagnosis episodes with at least 1 contact in 2018. We performed descriptive statistics, Student's T and x 2 tests to summarize and compare patients' characteristics and GP management strategies in the nonpersistent and persistent groups.Results: The incidence rate of symptom diagnoses was 767 episodes per 1000 patient-years. The prevalence rate was 485 patients per 1000 patient-years. Out of the patients who had a contact with their GPs, 58% had at least 1 symptom diagnosis, from which 16% were persistent (>1 year). In the persistent group, we found significantly more females (64% vs 57%), older patients (mean: 49 vs 36 years of age), patients with more comorbidities (71% vs 49%), psychological (17% vs 12%) and social (8% vs 5%) problems. Prescriptions (62% vs 23%) and referral (62.7% vs 30.6%) rates were significantly higher in persistent symptom episodes.Conclusion: Symptom diagnoses are highly prevalent (58%) of which a considerable part (16%) persists more than a year. ( J Am Board Fam Med ;

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patients’ Characteristics and General Practitioners’ Management of Patients with Symptom Diagnoses

et al. 2023

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Patient stories: Integrated learning for family physicians and primary health care teams

Rahman,

Harika,

Kumar

et al. 2023

Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care

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A family physician’s open-ended commitment to the patient, not limited by the type of health problem or by a defined endpoint opens the door to the patients’ world. Family physicians are uniquely privileged to provide all the key aspects of primary care—first contact care, comprehensive care, coordination and personalisation of care. The family physician as the trained primary care clinician is the interface between the illness experience of patients in primary care and the healthcare system in which patients undergo treatment. Based on our experience of working with communities, we submit that commitment to the person of the patient needs long-term relationship with communities. The breadth of knowledge and patient–doctor relationship in the compendium of a family physician skill set is a challenging and rewarding experience. This learned skill is attainable for all healthcare professionals.

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Symptoms in family practice

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

Patients’ Characteristics and General Practitioners’ Management of Patients with Symptom Diagnoses

Patients’ Characteristics and General Practitioners’ Management of Patients with Symptom Diagnoses

Patient stories: Integrated learning for family physicians and primary health care teams

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