ArticleBMC family practice2013
Using read codes to identify patients with irritable bowel syndrome in general practice: a database study.
Article in BMC family practice, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Frailty status and risk of irritable bowel syndrome in middle-aged and older adults: A large-scale prospective cohort study.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Factors Associated with the Development of Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Patients Hospitalized with Covid-19.Digestive diseases and sciences · 2022Article
- Linaclotide utilization and potential for off-label use and misuse in three European countries.Therapeutic advances in gastroenterology · 2022Article
- Article
- Healthcare use by 30,000 patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in France: a 5-year retrospective and one-year prospective national observational study.BMC gastroenterology · 2019Observational
- Referrals to a tertiary hospital: A window into clinical management issues in functional gastrointestinal disorders.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2017Article
- An Ontology to Improve Transparency in Case Definition and Increase Case Finding of Infectious Intestinal Disease: Database Study in English General Practice.JMIR medical informatics · 2017Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEstimates of the prevalence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) vary widely, and a large proportion of patients report having consulted their general practitioner (GP). In patients with new onset gastrointestinal symptoms in primary care it might be possible to predict those at risk of persistent symptoms. However, one of the difficulties is identifying patients within primary care. GPs use a variety of Read Codes to describe patients presenting with IBS. Furthermore, in a qualitative study, exploring GPs' attitudes and approaches to defining patients with IBS, GPs appeared reluctant to add the IBS Read Code to the patient record until more serious conditions were ruled out. Consequently, symptom codes such as 'abdominal pain', 'diarrhoea' or 'constipation' are used. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of recorded consultations for IBS and to explore the symptom profile of patients with IBS using data from the Salford Integrated Record (SIR).
methodsThis was a database study using the SIR, a local patient sharing record system integrating primary, community and secondary care information. Records were obtained for a cohort of patients with gastrointestinal disorders from January 2002 to December 2011. Prevalence rates, symptom recording, medication prescribing and referral patterns were compared for three patient groups (IBS, abdominal pain (AP) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)).
resultsThe prevalence of IBS (age standardised rate: 616 per year per 100,000 population) was much lower than expected compared with that reported in the literature. The majority of patients (69%) had no gastrointestinal symptoms recorded in the year prior to their IBS. However a proportion of these (22%) were likely to have been prescribed NICE guideline recommended medications for IBS in that year. The findings for AP and IBD were similar.
conclusionsUsing Read Codes to identify patients with IBS may lead to a large underestimate of the community prevalence. The IBS diagnostic Read Code was rarely applied in practice. There are similarities with many other medically unexplained symptoms which are typically difficult to diagnose in clinical practice.
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