scholarly journals Analysis of factors associated with changing general practice in the first 14 years of life in Wales using linked cohort and primary care records: implications for using primary care databanks for life course research

Author(s):  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Ronan Lyons ◽  
Amrita Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Helen Bedford ◽  
Sinead Brophy ◽  
...  

IntroductionPrimary care electronic health records (pcEHRs) are a valuable resource for life course research, however loss to follow up due to changing practices has received little attention. We investigated factors associated with changes in registration and record continuity in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank, with ~80% practice coverage. Objectives and ApproachWe analysed linked pcEHRs for 1834 (882 girls) Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) participants, resident in Wales and with parental consent to health record linkage at the age seven MCS interview. We studied time from first to next general practice (GP) registration in Wales by fitting Cox proportional hazards models, and estimated mutually-adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for the following factors: child (sex, ethnicity, mode of delivery, gestation, birthweight, neonatal illness, wheeze, longstanding illness); maternal (age, education, lone parent status); household (income, housing tenure, residential mobility, urban/rural residence); GP type (SAIL-contributing/-non-contributing). Analyses were weighted for survey design (Stata: Release 15; StataCorp LP). ResultsThere were 3065 Welsh GP registrations for 1834 children. By age 5 years, 25% of children changed GP at least once, with 1070 (58.3%), 477 (26.0%) and 287 (15.7%) registered with 1, 2, 3+ GPs respectively up to 14 years of age. Children with older mothers (aHRs; 95% CI: 0.96; 0.95, 0.98; per year) or those residing in rural areas (0.75;0.56,0.99) were less likely, and those whose first registration was not with a SAIL contributing GP (2.16;1.60,2.93), whose mothers had no educational qualifications (1.40;1.15,1.71), or had recently changed address (1.62;1.21,2.16) more likely, to change GP. 305 (16.6%) children had never registered with a SAIL-contributing GP. Of 403 children initially registered with a SAIL contributing GP who then changed GP, 66.7% re-registered with a SAIL contributing GP. Conclusion/ImplicationsGeographically contiguous primary care databanks, such as the SAIL databank, enable a high proportion of children to be reliably followed over time despite changing GP. Similar analyses of databases based on geographically disparate volunteer GPs are needed to quality assure their suitability for life course epidemiology research.

Author(s):  
Carol Dezateux ◽  
Lucy J Griffiths ◽  
Bianca L De Stavola ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Amrita Bandyopadhyay ◽  
...  

Background Databanks of primary care electronic health records (pcEHRs) are a valuable resource for life course research, however loss to follow up due to changing general practice has received little attention. ObjectiveWe investigated factors associated with changing general practice (GP) in early life and continuity of participation in the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage (SAIL) databank, to which approximately 80% of Welsh practices contribute. MethodsWe analysed linked pcEHRs for 1834 (882 girls) Millennium Cohort Study participants, resident in Wales, with consent to health record linkage. We studied time from first to next practice registration using Cox proportional hazards models, and estimated mutually-adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for child, household and practice factors. FindingsThere were 3065 Welsh GP registrations for 1834 children. By age 5 years, 25% changed practice at least once, with 1070 (58.3%), 477 (26.0%), 287 (15.7%) registered with 1, 2, or 3+ GPs respectively by age 14 years. Changing practice was related to maternal age (aHRs; 95% CI: 0.96; 0.95,0.98), living in rural areas (0.75;0.56,0.99), initial registration with a non-SAIL-practice (2.16;1.60,2.93), recent address change (1.62;1.21,2.16), and no maternal educational qualifications (1.40;1.15,1.71). Overall, 305 (16.6%) children had never registered with a SAIL practice. Of 403 children initially registered with a SAIL practice who then changed practice, 66.7% re-registered with a SAIL practice. ConclusionsIn a nationally representative sample of Welsh children, the majority remained registered with the same practice up to age 14 years, with change in practice varying by maternal and household factors. Continuity of participation in the Welsh SAIL databank over early life is high, reflecting the high proportion of practices contributing, and the high proportion of children registered with them. Geographically contiguous primary care databanks, such as SAIL, enable a high proportion of children to be followed over time despite changing general practice.


2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay Hedden ◽  
Megan A. Ahuja ◽  
M. Ruth Lavergne ◽  
Kimberlyn M. McGrail ◽  
Michael R. Law ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The retirement of a family physician can represent a challenge in accessibility and continuity of care for patients. In this population-based, longitudinal cohort study, we assess whether and how long it takes for patients to find a new majority source of primary care (MSOC) when theirs retires, and we investigate the effect of demographic and clinical characteristics on this process. Methods We used provincial health insurance records to identify the complete cohort of patients whose majority source of care left clinical practice in either 2007/2008 or 2008/2009 and then calculated the number of days between their last visit with their original MSOC and their first visit with their new one. We compared the clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of patients who did and did not find a new MSOC in the three years following their original physician’s retirement using Chi-square and Fisher’s exact test. We also used Cox proportional hazards models to determine the adjusted association between patient age, sex, socioeconomic status, location and morbidity level (measured using Johns Hopkins’ Aggregated Diagnostic Groupings), and time to finding a new primary care physician. We produce survival curves stratified by patient age, sex, income and morbidity. Results Fifty-four percent of patients found a new MSOC within the first 12 months following their physician’s retirement. Six percent of patients still had not found a new physician after 36 months. Patients who were older and had higher levels of morbidity were more likely to find a new MSOC and found one faster than younger, healthier patients. Patients located in more urban regional health authorities also took longer to find a new MSOC compared to those in rural areas. Conclusions Primary care physician retirements represent a potential threat to accessibility; patients followed in this study took more than a year on average to find a new MSOC after their physician retired. Providing programmatic support to retiring physicians and their patients, as well as addressing shortages of longitudinal primary care more broadly could help to ensure smoother retirement transitions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 68 (673) ◽  
pp. e566-e575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Murchie ◽  
Rosalind Adam ◽  
Wei L Khor ◽  
Edwin A Raja ◽  
Lisa Iversen ◽  
...  

BackgroundThose living in rural areas have poorer cancer outcomes, but current evidence on how rurality impacts melanoma care and survival is contradictory.AimTo investigate the impact of rurality on setting of melanoma excision and mortality in a whole-nation cohort.Design and settingAnalysis of linked routine healthcare data comprising every individual in Scotland diagnosed with melanoma, January 2005–December 2013, in primary and secondary care.MethodMultivariate binary logistic regression was used to explore the relationship between rurality and setting of melanoma excision; Cox proportional hazards regression between rurality and mortality was used, with adjustments for key confounders.ResultsIn total 9519 patients were included (54.3% [n = 5167] female, mean age 60.2 years [SD 17.5]). Of melanomas where setting of excision was known, 90.3% (n = 8598) were in secondary care and 8.1% (n = 771) in primary care. Odds of primary care excision increased with increasing rurality/remoteness. Compared with those in urban areas, those in the most remote rural locations had almost twice the odds of melanoma excision in primary care (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.92; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.33 to 2.77). No significant association was found between urban or rural residency and all-cause mortality. Melanoma-specific mortality was significantly lower in individuals residing in accessible small towns than in large urban areas (adjusted hazards ratio [HR] 0.53; 95% CI = 0.33 to 0.87) with no trend towards poorer survival with increasing rurality.ConclusionPatients in Scottish rural locations were more likely to have a melanoma excised in primary care. However, those in rural areas did not have significantly increased mortality from melanoma. Together these findings suggest that current UK melanoma management guidelines could be revised to be more realistic by recognising the role of primary care in the prompt diagnosis and treatment of those in rural locations.


JAMIA Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Spiros Denaxas ◽  
Anoop D Shah ◽  
Bilal A Mateen ◽  
Valerie Kuan ◽  
Jennifer K Quint ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives The UK Biobank (UKB) is making primary care electronic health records (EHRs) for 500 000 participants available for COVID-19-related research. Data are extracted from four sources, recorded using five clinical terminologies and stored in different schemas. The aims of our research were to: (a) develop a semi-supervised approach for bootstrapping EHR phenotyping algorithms in UKB EHR, and (b) to evaluate our approach by implementing and evaluating phenotypes for 31 common biomarkers. Materials and Methods We describe an algorithmic approach to phenotyping biomarkers in primary care EHR involving (a) bootstrapping definitions using existing phenotypes, (b) excluding generic, rare, or semantically distant terms, (c) forward-mapping terminology terms, (d) expert review, and (e) data extraction. We evaluated the phenotypes by assessing the ability to reproduce known epidemiological associations with all-cause mortality using Cox proportional hazards models. Results We created and evaluated phenotyping algorithms for 31 biomarkers many of which are directly related to COVID-19 complications, for example diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease. Our algorithm identified 1651 Read v2 and Clinical Terms Version 3 terms and automatically excluded 1228 terms. Clinical review excluded 103 terms and included 44 terms, resulting in 364 terms for data extraction (sensitivity 0.89, specificity 0.92). We extracted 38 190 682 events and identified 220 978 participants with at least one biomarker measured. Discussion and conclusion Bootstrapping phenotyping algorithms from similar EHR can potentially address pre-existing methodological concerns that undermine the outputs of biomarker discovery pipelines and provide research-quality phenotyping algorithms.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Volkan Korten ◽  
◽  
Deniz Gökengin ◽  
Gülhan Eren ◽  
Taner Yıldırmak ◽  
...  

Abstract Background There is limited evidence on the modification or stopping of antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens, including novel antiretroviral drugs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the discontinuation of first ART before and after the availability of better tolerated and less complex regimens by comparing the frequency, reasons and associations with patient characteristics. Methods A total of 3019 ART-naive patients registered in the HIV-TR cohort who started ART between Jan 2011 and Feb 2017 were studied. Only the first modification within the first year of treatment for each patient was included in the analyses. Reasons were classified as listed in the coded form in the web-based database. Cumulative incidences were analysed using competing risk function and factors associated with discontinuation of the ART regimen were examined using Cox proportional hazards models and Fine-Gray competing risk regression models. Results The initial ART regimen was discontinued in 351 out of 3019 eligible patients (11.6%) within the first year. The main reason for discontinuation was intolerance/toxicity (45.0%), followed by treatment simplification (9.7%), patient willingness (7.4%), poor compliance (7.1%), prevention of future toxicities (6.0%), virologic failure (5.4%), and provider preference (5.4%). Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI)-based (aHR = 4.4, [95% CI 3.0–6.4]; p < 0.0001) or protease inhibitor (PI)-based regimens (aHR = 4.3, [95% CI 3.1–6.0]; p < 0.0001) relative to integrase strand transfer inhibitor (InSTI)-based regimens were significantly associated with ART discontinuation. ART initiated at a later period (2015-Feb 2017) (aHR = 0.6, [95% CI 0.4–0.9]; p < 0.0001) was less likely to be discontinued. A lower rate of treatment discontinuation for intolerance/toxicity was observed with InSTI-based regimens (2.0%) than with NNRTI- (6.6%) and PI-based regimens (7.5%) (p < 0.001). The percentage of patients who achieved HIV RNA < 200 copies/mL within 12 months of ART initiation was 91% in the ART discontinued group vs. 94% in the continued group (p > 0.05). Conclusion ART discontinuation due to intolerance/toxicity and virologic failure decreased over time. InSTI-based regimens were less likely to be discontinued than PI- and NNRTI-based ART.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeppe Lerche la Cour ◽  
Bjarke Røssner Medici ◽  
Mia Klinten Grand ◽  
Dagny Ros Nicolaisdottir ◽  
Bent Lind ◽  
...  

Objective: A decrease over time in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels when initiating levothyroxine (L-T4) therapy for hypothyroidism has been reported, where treatment most often is initiated with TSH levels below 10 mIU/L. The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether this lower TSH threshold resulted in an increased number of overtreated patients. Design and Method: Retrospective cohort study comprising inhabitants in Copenhagen who had TSH measurements requested by general practitioners which led to a new prescription of L-T4 between 2001 and 2012. Over- and undertreatment were defined as TSH < 0.1 mIU/L or above 10 mIU/mL, respectively, in three consecutive measurements. Data were analysed by Aalen-Johansen estimators and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: In total, 14,533 initiations of L-T4 in the study. The cumulative risk of being over- or undertreated, was 4.7% and 7.4% after 10 years. The hazard of overtreatment was higher among women, younger adults and with lower initial TSH levels. The hazard of overtreatment decreased over the time period from 2001 to 2012. Among overtreated individuals, the chance of returning to a normal TSH was about 55% after 10 years. In 18% of the cases, L-T4 therapy was initiated on TSH levels less than 5 mIU/L. Conclusion: Although a still decreasing threshold for initiating L-T4 therapy is known, the risk of overtreatment (and undertreatment) was low and lessened in the period 2001 – 2012 among Danish primary care patients. Nevertheless, as many as 18% were started on L-T4 with normal TSH levels.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-33
Author(s):  
Jiping Zeng ◽  
Ken Batai ◽  
Benjamin Lee

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the impact of surgical wait time (SWT) on outcomes of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and to investigate risk factors associated with prolonged SWT. Using the National Cancer Database, we retrospectively reviewed the records of patients with pT3 RCC treated with radical or partial nephrectomy between 2004 and 2014. The cohort was divided based on SWT. The primary out-come was 5-year overall survival (OS). Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the risk factors associated with delayed surgery. Cox proportional hazards models were fitted to assess relations between SWT and 5-year OS after adjusting for confounding factors. A total of 22,653 patients were included in the analysis. Patients with SWT > 10 weeks had higher occurrence of upstaging. Using logistic regression, we found that female patients, African-American or Spanish origin patients, treatment in academic or integrated network cancer center, lack of insurance, median household income of <$38,000, and the Charlson–Deyo score of ≥1 were more likely to have prolonged SWT. SWT > 10 weeks was associated with decreased 5-year OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.24; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15–1.33). This risk was not markedly attenuated after adjusting for confounding variables, including age, gender, race, insurance status, Charlson–Deyo score, tumor size, and surgical margin status (adjusted HR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.04–1.24). In conclusion, the vast majority of patients underwent surgery within 10 weeks. There is a statistically significant trend of increasing SWT over the study period. SWT > 10 weeks is associated with decreased 5-year OS.


2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH MASUDI UCHUDI

This paper uses data from the 1995/96 Mali DHS survey to examine the importance of a wide range of socioeconomic, behavioural and biodemographic factors in the determination of child mortality in Mali, with a special focus on maternal education and behaviour. The central hypothesis of the study is that advances in maternal education would contribute little to child survival in settings such as Mali’s urban and rural communities where progress in educational attainment is not matched with improvements in other aspects of socioeconomic development such as economic growth, job creation, financial security and public health and medical resources. Units of analysis are children born in the past 5 years to DHS respondents (women aged 15–45) who were married at the time of the survey. The Cox proportional hazards regression technique has been used to estimate the net effects of variables included as covariates. The findings indicate that the health-seeking behaviour of the mother matters more than maternal education in explaining the observed differences in infant and child mortality in Mali’s urban and rural areas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C Wilkinson ◽  
O Todd ◽  
M Yadegarfar ◽  
A Clegg ◽  
C P Gale ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in older people is increasing, as is frailty. Frailty describes an increased vulnerability to adverse outcomes, whereby the balance of risk and benefit associated with an intervention may be more nuanced. However, there are limited data from a community setting on the prevalence of AF and frailty in older people. It is important to understand the burden of AF and frailty, and the associated impact on mortality and stroke disease in order to inform shared decision making with patients, and also inform guidelines for this increasing group of older people. Purpose To estimate the prevalence of AF and the burden of frailty in patients with AF, in a large primary care dataset. To report stroke and mortality by frailty group. Methods We used electronic health records of 537,051 patients in England aged 65 years or older on 31/12/2015, with follow-up for all-cause mortality and ischaemic or unclassified stroke to 11/04/2017. Patients with a history of AF were identified using Clinical Terms Version 3 (CTV-3) codes. Frailty was identified up to the point of study entry using the electronic frailty index (eFI, the proportion of deficits out of 36 possible deficits), and categorised into robust (0–0.12), mild (>0.12–0.24), moderate (>0.24–0.36) or severe (>0.36) frailty. Median CHA2DS2-VASc and ATRIA scores for patients with frailty were compared with the robust group using Mann-Whitney. The association between frailty status, all-cause mortality and stroke was calculated using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusted for age and sex. Results Of the cohort, 61,177 patients (11.4%) had AF. Of those with AF, 27,987 (45.8%) were female, and 54,734 (89.5%) had frailty. 6,443 (10.5%) were classified as robust; 20,352 (33.3%) mildly frail; 20,315 (33.2%) moderately frail; and 14,067 (23.0%) severely frail. The median number of eFI-defined deficits among patients with AF was 9 (interquartile range [IQR] 6–12). Median stroke and bleeding scores were higher in those with frailty compared with the robust group (CHA2DS2-VASc 4 [IQR 3–5] v 2 [2–3], p≤0.001; ATRIA 4 [2–6] v 1 [0–2], p≤0.001). During 73,338 patient-years of follow-up, there were 6,805 (11.1%) deaths and 945 (1.54%) strokes. Compared with the robust group, all-cause mortality and stroke were higher with increasing frailty. Mortality: mild frailty hazard ratio 1.53 (95% confidence interval 1.29–1.80); moderate frailty 2.50 (2.13–2.94); severe frailty 4.26 (3.63–5.01). Stroke: mild frailty 1.36 (0.99–1.85); moderate frailty 1.67 (1.23–2.28); severe 1.99 (1.45–2.73). Kaplan-Meier survival curves by frailty Conclusion The prevalence of AF among those aged over 65 years in primary care in England is high, the majority of whom are frail. Increasing severity of frailty was associated with higher mortality and stroke rates. The extent to which the judicious use of oral anticoagulation may improve clinical outcomes for patients with AF and frailty is currently unknown. Acknowledgement/Funding CPG: Bayer, BMS, AstraZeneca, Novartis Vifor Pharma, Menerini


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 321 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Christopher Doiron ◽  
Melanie Jaeger ◽  
Christopher M. Booth ◽  
Xuejiao Wei ◽  
D. Robert Siemens

Introduction: Thoracic epidural analgesia (TEA) is commonly used to manage postoperative pain and facilitate early mobilization after major intra-abdominal surgery. Evidence also suggests that regional anesthesia/analgesia may be associated with improved survival after cancer surgery. Here, we describe factors associated with TEA at the time of radical cystectomy (RC) for bladder cancer and its association with both short- and long-term outcomes in routine clinical practice.Methods: All patients undergoing RC in the province of Ontario between 2004 and 2008 were identified using the Ontario Cancer Registry (OCR). Modified Poisson regression was used to describe factors associated with epidural use, while a Cox proportional hazards model describes associations between survival and TEA use.Results: Over the five-year study period, 1628 patients were identified as receiving RC, 54% (n=887) of whom received TEA. Greater anesthesiologist volume (lowest volume providers relative risk [RR] 0.85, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.75‒0.96) and male sex (female sex RR 0.89, 95% CI 0.79‒0.99) were independently associated with greater use of TEA. TEA use was not associated with improved short-term outcomes. In multivariable analysis, TEA was not associated with cancer-specific survival (hazard ratio [HR] 1.02, 95% CI 0.87‒1.19; p=0.804) or overall survival (HR 0.91, 95% CI 0.80‒1.03; p=0.136).Conclusions: In routine clinical practice, 54% of RC patients received TEA and its use was associated with anesthesiologist provider volume. After controlling for patient, disease and provider variables, we were unable to demonstrate any effect on either short- or long-term outcomes at the time of RC.


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