Skin lesions suspected of malignancy: an increasing burden on general practice
| Autor: | Wouter K. van der Heide, Cecile Koelink, Klaas van der Meer, Boudewijn J. Kollen, Feikje Groenhof |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Life Course Epidemiology (LCE) |
| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty Skin Neoplasms CUTANEOUS MELANOMA Population General Practice Malignancy Skin Diseases Surgical procedures Physicians Health care medicine Humans Family education Retrospective Studies Netherlands education.field_of_study business.industry Cancer INCIDENCE RATES Retrospective cohort study Referral and consultation CELL CARCINOMA medicine.disease TRENDS CANCER Annual Percent Change Surgery Minor Family practice International Classification of Primary Care Skin cancer business Research Article |
| Zdroj: | BMC Family Practice BMC Family Practice, 15:29. BioMed Central Ltd. |
| ISSN: | 1471-2296 |
| Popis: | Background: Skin cancer is believed to impose a heavy burden on healthcare services, but the burden of skin lesions suspected of malignancy on primary healthcare has never been evaluated. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the demand for care in general practice due to these suspected skin lesions (i.e. lesions that are suspected of malignancy by either the patient or the GP).Methods: Registry study based on data (2001-2010) from the Registration Network Groningen. This is a general practice registration network in the northern part of the Netherlands with an average annual population of approximately 30,000 patients. All patient contacts are coded according to the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC). Consultations for skin lesions suspected of malignancy were selected according to the assigned ICPC codes. Subsequently, the number of consultations per year and the annual percent change in number of contacts (using the JoinPoint regression program) were calculated and analysed. Additionally, the percentage of patients referred to secondary care or receiving minor surgery within one year after the first contact were calculated.Results: From 2001 onwards we found an annual increase in demand for care due to skin lesions suspected of malignancy of 7.3% (p Conclusions: Suspected skin lesions impose an increasing burden on primary healthcare and most likely on healthcare costs as well. General practitioners should therefore be trained in diagnosing skin lesions suspected of malignancy, as a high diagnostic accuracy can save lives in the case of melanoma, and may also prevent unnecessary, costly, excisions and referrals to secondary healthcare. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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