Observational studyBMC family practice2018
Diagnostic behaviour of general practitioners when suspecting Lyme disease: a database study from 2010-2015.
Observational study in BMC family practice, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Results from an enhanced surveillance study of laboratory-confirmed acute Lyme disease cases in England between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Article
- Resident primary care practitioners' awareness and handling of zoonotic diseases: an explorative online survey in the Hameln-Pyrmont district, Lower Saxony, Germany.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Immunoblot Criteria for Diagnosis of Lyme Disease: A Comparison of CDC Criteria to Alternative Interpretive Approaches.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Prevalence and factors associated with a prescription of a Lyme borreliosis serology for erythema migrans diagnosis in general practice: a study from the French sentinel network, 2009-2020.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- ClassicalLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Incidence of Lyme Borreliosis in the Dutch General Practice Population: A Large-Scale Population-Based Cohort Study Across the Netherlands Between 2015 and 2019.Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · 2023Article
- Risk factors for Lyme disease stage and manifestation using electronic health records.BMC infectious diseases · 2021Article
- Serological testing for Lyme Borreliosis in general practice: A qualitative study among Dutch general practitioners.The European journal of general practice · 2020Article
- Revisiting the Lyme Disease Serodiagnostic Algorithm: the Momentum Gathers.Journal of clinical microbiology · 2018Article
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
backgroundDue to the raised public awareness of Lyme Borreliosis (LB), its increased incidence and the increased availability of serological tests, the demand for diagnostic testing on LB has increased. This may affect the diagnostic behaviour of general practitioners (GPs). Aim of our study was to describe GPs' diagnostic behaviour when suspecting LB.
methodsIn this descriptive study from January 2010 to June 2015, we used the anonymized electronic medical records of 56,996 patients registered in 12 general practices in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The target population was identified by means of an extensive search strategy, based on International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC-1) codes, free text and diagnostic test codes. All contacts related to LB were included in the analysis.
results2311 patients were included, accounting for 3861 LB contacts and 2619 LB episodes. The distribution of LB contacts showed annual peaks during spring and summer. Serological testing was performed in 36.4% of LB episodes and was mostly requested in patients presenting with general symptoms (71.4%). Unnecessary testing often occurred and only 5.9% of the tests turned out to be positive by immunoblot. From January 2010 to June 2015, no significant differences were found in the number of requested serological tests. The level of serological testing during LB episodes differed significantly between the general practices (19.2% to 75.8%).
conclusionsContrary to clinical guidelines, GPs regularly requested serology even when there was a low suspicion of LB. The development of an easy-to-use diagnostic algorithm may decrease overuse of diagnostic tests and thereby reduce overtreatment of LB.
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