ReviewAnnals of family medicine
Defining and measuring interpersonal continuity of care.
Review in Annals of family medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 252 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
252 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Patient reported measures of continuity of care and health outcomes: a systematic review.BMC primary care · 2024Pooled it
- Midwife continuity of care models versus other models of care for childbearing women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- The Relationship of Continuity of Care, Polypharmacy and Medication Appropriateness: A Systematic Review of Observational Studies.Drugs & aging · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of continuity of care on health outcomes among patients with diabetes mellitus and/or hypertension: a systematic review.BMC family practice · 2021Pooled it
- Primary medical care continuity and patient mortality: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2020Pooled it
- Midwife-led continuity models versus other models of care for childbearing women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Personal Continuity of Care in a University-Based Primary Care Practice: Impact on Blood Pressure Control.PloS one · 2015Trial
- Does improved continuity of primary care affect clinician-patient communication in VA?Journal of general internal medicine · 2014Trial
- Continuity of care in the context of a primary health care reform: a follow-up after the SwedishScandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Motivations and challenges experienced among locums working in Norwegian rural general practice: a reflexive thematic analysis.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Development of a novel GP continuity measurement for practices without personal lists: a two-practice pilot of the modified SLICC.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2026Article
- Patient-Transition Networks, Multiservice Trajectories, and Specialty Activity in a University Dental Clinic: A Retrospective Ecological Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Association of Reduction in Continuity of Care During COVID-19 Pandemic With Cardiovascular Diseases, Kidney Failure and All-Cause Mortality for People With Diabetes: A Cohort Study in Hong Kong.Diabetes, obesity & metabolism · 2026Article
- Association of General Practice Continuity With Hospital Admissions and Costs: A Retrospective Study.Annals of family medicine · 2026Article
- Continuity of Care Surrounding Emergency Department Encounters for People with Kidney Failure in Alberta, Canada: A Qualitative Study.Kidney360 · 2026Article
- Prevalence of diabetes and associated risk factors in Ga Mashie, Accra, Ghana: a cross-sectional CARE Diabetes community-based survey.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Measuring the relationship between outpatient family physician visit regularity and acute care utilization during the end of life: a population-level retrospective cohort study.Family practice · 2026Article
- Categorizing continuity of care measures and why you have (probably) been doing it wrong: a methodological discussion and recommendations for researchers.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Using human-centered design to map the perinatal ecosystem for pregnant people with substance use disorders.Pregnancy (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2026Article
- Continuity of care and risk of vision loss in patients with newly developed macular degeneration.Acta ophthalmologica · 2026Article
192 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn an effort to learn more about the importance of continuity of care to physicians and patients, I reviewed the medical literature on continuity of care to define interpersonal continuity and describe how it has been measured and studied.
methodsA search of the MEDLINE database from 1966 through April 2002 was conducted to find articles focusing on the keyword "continuity of patient care," including all subheadings. Titles and abstracts of the resulting articles were screened to select articles focusing on interpersonal continuity in the physician-patient relationship or on the definition of continuity of care. These articles were systematically reviewed and analyzed for study method, measurement technique, and research theme.
resultsA total of 379 original articles were found that addressed any aspect of continuity as an attribute of general medical care. One hundred forty-two articles directly related to the definition of continuity or to the concept of interpersonal continuity in the physician-patient relationship. Although the available literature reflects little agreement on how to define continuity of care, it is best defined as a hierarchy of 3 dimensions; informational, longitudinal, and interpersonal continuity. Interpersonal continuity is of particular interest for primary care. Twenty-one measurement techniques have been defined to study continuity, many of which relate to visit patterns and concentration rather than the interpersonal nature of the continuity relationship.
conclusionsFuture inquiry in family medicine should focus on better understanding the interpersonal dimension of continuity of care.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.