Care by general practitioners for patients with asthma or COPD during the COVID-19 pandemic

C. Rijpkema; L. Ramerman; M. Homburg; E. Meijer; J. Muris; T. olde Hartman; M. Berger; Lilian Peters; R. Verheij

Care by general practitioners for patients with asthma or COPD during the COVID-19 pandemic

C. Rijpkema, L. Ramerman, M. Homburg, E. Meijer, J. Muris, T. olde Hartman, M. Berger, Lilian Peters, R. Verheij

Western Sydney University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on general practitioners’ (GP) care for patients with asthma and/or COPD is largely unknown. To describe the impact of the pandemic on asthma or COPD-related GP care, we analysed routinely recorded electronic health records data from Dutch general practices and out-of-hours (OOH) services. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), the contact rates for asthma and/or COPD were significantly lower in GP practices and OOH services compared with the pre-pandemic period (2019) (respectively, 15% lower and 28% lower). The proportion of telephone contacts increased significantly with 13%-point in GP practices and 12%-point at OOH services, while the proportion of face-to-face contacts decreased. Furthermore, the proportion of high urgent contacts with OOH services decreased by 8.5%-point. To conclude, the overall contact rates in GP practices and OOH services decreased, while more contacts were remote. Lower contact rates have, after a short follow-up, not resulted in more patients with exacerbations in OOH care. However, this might still be expected after a longer follow-up.

Original language	English
Article number	15
Number of pages	9
Journal	npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine
Volume	33
Issue number	1
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023, The Author(s).

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This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.

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Cite this

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title = "Care by general practitioners for patients with asthma or COPD during the COVID-19 pandemic",

abstract = "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on general practitioners{\textquoteright} (GP) care for patients with asthma and/or COPD is largely unknown. To describe the impact of the pandemic on asthma or COPD-related GP care, we analysed routinely recorded electronic health records data from Dutch general practices and out-of-hours (OOH) services. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), the contact rates for asthma and/or COPD were significantly lower in GP practices and OOH services compared with the pre-pandemic period (2019) (respectively, 15% lower and 28% lower). The proportion of telephone contacts increased significantly with 13%-point in GP practices and 12%-point at OOH services, while the proportion of face-to-face contacts decreased. Furthermore, the proportion of high urgent contacts with OOH services decreased by 8.5%-point. To conclude, the overall contact rates in GP practices and OOH services decreased, while more contacts were remote. Lower contact rates have, after a short follow-up, not resulted in more patients with exacerbations in OOH care. However, this might still be expected after a longer follow-up.",

author = "C. Rijpkema and L. Ramerman and M. Homburg and E. Meijer and J. Muris and {olde Hartman}, T. and M. Berger and Lilian Peters and R. Verheij",

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year = "2023",

month = dec,

language = "English",

volume = "33",

journal = "npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine",

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AU - Rijpkema, C.

AU - Ramerman, L.

AU - Homburg, M.

AU - Meijer, E.

AU - Muris, J.

AU - olde Hartman, T.

AU - Berger, M.

AU - Peters, Lilian

AU - Verheij, R.

PY - 2023/12

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N2 - The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on general practitioners’ (GP) care for patients with asthma and/or COPD is largely unknown. To describe the impact of the pandemic on asthma or COPD-related GP care, we analysed routinely recorded electronic health records data from Dutch general practices and out-of-hours (OOH) services. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), the contact rates for asthma and/or COPD were significantly lower in GP practices and OOH services compared with the pre-pandemic period (2019) (respectively, 15% lower and 28% lower). The proportion of telephone contacts increased significantly with 13%-point in GP practices and 12%-point at OOH services, while the proportion of face-to-face contacts decreased. Furthermore, the proportion of high urgent contacts with OOH services decreased by 8.5%-point. To conclude, the overall contact rates in GP practices and OOH services decreased, while more contacts were remote. Lower contact rates have, after a short follow-up, not resulted in more patients with exacerbations in OOH care. However, this might still be expected after a longer follow-up.

AB - The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on general practitioners’ (GP) care for patients with asthma and/or COPD is largely unknown. To describe the impact of the pandemic on asthma or COPD-related GP care, we analysed routinely recorded electronic health records data from Dutch general practices and out-of-hours (OOH) services. During the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), the contact rates for asthma and/or COPD were significantly lower in GP practices and OOH services compared with the pre-pandemic period (2019) (respectively, 15% lower and 28% lower). The proportion of telephone contacts increased significantly with 13%-point in GP practices and 12%-point at OOH services, while the proportion of face-to-face contacts decreased. Furthermore, the proportion of high urgent contacts with OOH services decreased by 8.5%-point. To conclude, the overall contact rates in GP practices and OOH services decreased, while more contacts were remote. Lower contact rates have, after a short follow-up, not resulted in more patients with exacerbations in OOH care. However, this might still be expected after a longer follow-up.

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SN - 2055-1010

VL - 33

JO - npj Primary Care Respiratory Medicine

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ER -

Care by general practitioners for patients with asthma or COPD during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Open Access - Access Right Statement

UN SDGs

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