ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2011
Regular primary care plays a significant role in secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease in a Western Australian cohort.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of quality improvement interventions in improving cardiovascular disease-related outcomes in primary and tertiary care: A systematic review and meta-analyses.BMC primary care · 2025Pooled it
- Impact of the Family Doctor Contracting System on unmet healthcare needs in Shandong Province, China.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Impact of general practitioners and specialists on mortality: a longitudinal study.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Quantifying, Understanding and Enhancing Relational Continuity of Care (QUERCC): a mixed-methods protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Article
- Greater temporal regularity of primary care visits was associated with reduced hospitalizations and mortality, even after controlling for continuity of care.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- What quantifies good primary care in the United States? A review of algorithms and metrics using real-world data.BMC primary care · 2023Review
- Patient-level predictors of temporal regularity of primary care visits.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Data-driven quality improvement program to prevent hospitalisation and improve care of people living with coronary heart disease: Protocol for a process evaluation.Contemporary clinical trials · 2022Article
- The association between general practitioner regularity of care and 'high use' hospitalisation.BMC health services research · 2020Article
- Effect Modification of Multimorbidity on the Association Between Regularity of General Practitioner Contacts and Potentially Avoidable Hospitalisations.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Observational
- Observational
- A time-duration measure of continuity of care to optimise utilisation of primary health care: a threshold effects approach among people with diabetes.BMC health services research · 2019Observational
- Observational
- Improving cardiovascular outcomes among Aboriginal Australians: Lessons from research for primary care.SAGE open medicine · 2016Article
- Association of physician care with mortality in Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP) participants.American journal of kidney diseases : the official journal of the National Kidney Foundation · 2012Article
- Primary care equals secondary prevention in ischemic heart disease.Journal of general internal medicine · 2011Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundSecondary prevention for established ischaemic heart disease (IHD) involves medication therapy and a healthier lifestyle, but adherence is suboptimal. Simply having scheduled regular appointments with a primary care physician could confer a benefit for IHD patients possibly through increased motivation and awareness, but this has not previously been investigated in the literature.
objectiveTo estimate the association between regular general practitioner (GP) visitation and rates of all-cause death, IHD death or repeat hospitalisation for IHD in older patients in Western Australia (WA).
designA retrospective cohort design.
participantsPatients aged ≥ 65 years (n = 31,841) with a history of hospitalisation for IHD from 1992-2006 were ascertained through routine health data collected on the entire WA population and included in the analysis. MAIN MEASURES: Frequency and regularity of GP visits was determined during a three-year exposure period at commencement of follow-up. A regularity score (range 0-1) measured the regularity of intervals between the GP visits and was divided into quartiles. Patients were then followed for a maximum of 11.5 years for outcome determination. Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models. KEY
resultsCompared with the least regular quartile, patients with greater GP visit regularity had significantly decreased risks of all-cause death (2(nd) least, 2(nd) most and most regular: HR = 0.76, 0.71 and 0.71); and IHD death (2(nd) least, 2(nd) most and most regular: HR = 0.70, 0.68 and 0.65). Patients in the 2(nd) least regular quartile also appeared to experience decreased risk of any repeat IHD hospitalisation (HR = 0.83, 95%CI 0.71-0.96) as well as emergency hospitalisation (HR = 0.81, 95%CI 0.67-0.98), compared with the least regular quartile.
conclusionsSome degree of regular GP visitation offers a small but significant protection against morbidity and mortality in older people with established IHD. The findings indicate the importance of scheduled, regular GP visits for the secondary prevention of IHD.
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