Trends in low-value GP care during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective cohort study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Several studies showed that during the pandemic patients have refrained from visiting their general practitioner (GP). This resulted in medical care being delayed, postponed or completely forgone. The provision of low-value care, i.e. care which offers no net benefit for the patient, also could have been affected. We therefore assessed the impact of the COVID-19 restrictions on three types of low-value GP care: 1) imaging for back or knee problems, 2) antibiotics for otitis media acuta (OMA), and 3) repeated opioid prescriptions, without a prior GP visit.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort study using registration data from GPs part of an academic GP network over the period 2017-2022. The COVID-19 period was defined as the period between April 2020 to Dec

SUBMITTER: Muskens JLJM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10900726 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature