ArticleBMC family practice2007
Striking variations in consultation rates with general practice reveal family influence.
Article in BMC family practice, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- GP consultations for medically unexplained physical symptoms in parents and their children: a systematic review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2013Pooled it
- The association between multimorbidity in families and children's healthcare use: a cross-sectional study of households in the Lolland Falster Health Study (LOFUS).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Work-related stress, reason for consultation and diagnosis-specific sick leave: How do they add up?PloS one · 2023Observational
- Care-seeking behaviour of adolescents with patellofemoral pain: a retrospective cohort study.F1000Research · 2022Article
- Article
- Factors associated with consultation rates in general practice in England, 2013-2014: a cross-sectional study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
- Article
- Affective concordance in couples: a cross-sectional analysis of depression and anxiety consultations within a population of 13,507 couples in primary care.BMC psychiatry · 2017Article
- In sickness and in health: A cross-sectional analysis of concordance for musculoskeletal pain in 13,507 couples.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2016Article
- The association between GP consultations for non-specific physical symptoms in children and parents: a case-control study.PloS one · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe reasons why patients decide to consult a general practitioner vary enormously. While there may be individual reasons for this variation, the family context has a significant and unique influence upon the frequency of individuals' visits. The objective of this study was to explore which family factors can explain the differences between strikingly high, and correspondingly low, family consultation rates in families with children aged up to 21.
methodsData were used from the second Dutch national survey of general practice. This survey extracted from the medical records of 96 practices in the Netherlands, information on all consultations with patients during 2001. We defined, through multilevel analysis, two groups of families. These had respectively, predominantly high, and low, contact frequencies due to a significant family influence upon the frequency of the individual's first contacts. Binomial logistic regression analyses were used to analyse which of the family factors, related to shared circumstances and socialisation conditions, can explain the differences in consultation rates between the two groups of families.
resultsIn almost 3% of all families, individual consultation rates decrease significantly due to family influence. In 11% of the families, individual consultation rates significantly increase due to family influence. While taking into account the health status of family members, family factors can explain family consultation rates. These factors include circumstances such as their economic status and number of children, as well as socialisation conditions such as specific health knowledge and family beliefs. The chance of significant low frequencies of contact due to family influences increases significantly with factors such as, paid employment of parents in the health care sector, low expectations of general practitioners' care for minor ailments and a western cultural background.
conclusionFamily circumstances can easily be identified and will add to the understanding of the health complaints of the individual patient in the consulting room. Family circumstances related to health risks often cannot be changed but they can illuminate the reasons for a visit, and mould strategies for prevention, treatment or recovery. Health beliefs, on the other hand, may be influenced by providing specific knowledge.
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