Disease composition and epidemiological characteristics of primary care visits in Pudong New Area, Shanghai: a longitudinal study, 2016–2018

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study aims to analyse the disease composition of primary care visits rather than specialist visits, the former of which had scarcely been studied. We adopted specific disease classification (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision), disease system and communicable/non-communicable/injury disease classification, and variations of sex and age were also analysed.SettingWe extracted data from all community health service centres (CHSCs) and community health service stations in Pudong, Shanghai, from 2016 to 2018 using the electronic health record systems of the Pudong health information centre.ParticipantsOur data included all 46 720 972 primary care visits from 2016 to 2018 in CHSCs in Pudong.ResultsWe found that the top five diseases in primary care visits continued to be primary hypertension, problems related to medical facilities, chronic ischaemic heart disease, unspecified diabetes mellitus and acute upper respiratory infection. Lipoprotein metabolism disorder visits continued to increase over the study years. The numbers and proportions of patients with hypertension and unspecified diabetes were higher among men than women, and other cerebrovascular diseases were higher among women than men. The top five disease systems were circulatory system diseases, respiratory system diseases, endocrine/nutritional/metabolic diseases, factors influencing health status and digestive system diseases. The rankings of respiratory system and endocrine/nutritional/metabolic diseases rose over time. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for approximately 90% of the primary care visits—a much higher percentage than other causes. The top five NCDs in primary care visits were cardiovascular and circulatory diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, digestive diseases and urogenital diseases. Compared with women, men suffered from cardiovascular diseases at an earlier age.ConclusionsDifferent from specialist visits, common diseases, especially NCDs, were the main disease composition of current primary healthcare visits while the former focused on intractable diseases such as tumours, indicating that primary healthcare had played the role of gatekeeper of the healthcare system.

Characteristics and Outcomes of Conditions Encountered in Primary Care During FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar - A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Furthermore, the study identified acute upper respiratory tract infections as the most prevalent health issue seen in primary care facilities (6.67%), followed by chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes mellitus (Chen et al, 2022). Similar findings were reported by other studies as well (Adib et al, 1995;Gong et al, 2020). In Qatar, primary healthcare services are administered through a network of healthcare centres.…”

Epidemiological characteristics of chronic non-communicable diseases in Dongfang, China, 2021: a cross-sectional survey

“…Therefore, identifying major diseases and some prominent problems, focusing on key groups in the region allow an effective way for the government, society and public work together to promote health. We found that NCDs accounted for 49.04% of all diseases, and although their proportion is still much lower than that in developed regions of China, 19 they have become a major public health challenge in Dongfang. It is worth nothing that the proportion of the population aged 65 years or older in 2020 has increased by 2.99% compared with 2010, while the proportion of the population aged 15–59 years has decreased by 2.66%.…”

Primary care visits in a regional area in southern China before and during Covid pandemic

“…1, the group of 40-64 had the largest proportion of patient visits each year, followed by elderly group aged 65 or above, the group of 19-39, the group of 6-12 and the group of 0-5. The age group of [13][14][15][16][17][18] had the lowest proportion of visits.…”

“…Such understanding should help develop strategic reactions of the system to deal with pandemic situations to avoid system collapse. Literature shows that existing global studies have addressed primary care service utilization of patients in general or with speci c characteristics, or in relation to the service infrastructure, component, in uential factors and quality [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In the background of Chinese health system characteristics and Covid 19 pandemic situations, the current study was conducted from a more general perspective to describe a local primary care system, its patient encounters and disease pro les of the patients within an integrated health organization in a rural town in southern China.…”