Observational studyBMJ open2019
Association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation: a data linkage study in New South Wales, Australia, using the 45 and Up Study cohort.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Comprehensive Systematic Review of Data Linkage Publications on Diabetes in Australia.Frontiers in public health · 2022Pooled it
- Continuity of Care in General Practice in Australia: A Whole-Of-Population Serial Cross-Sectional Study.The Medical journal of Australia · 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
- Continuity of Primary Care and Preventable Hospitalization for Acute Conditions: A Machine Learning-Based Record Linkage Study.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Teamwork Among Primary Care Staff to Achieve Regular Follow-Up of Chronic Patients.Annals of family medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Transformation to a patient-centred medical home led and delivered by an urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and association with engagement and quality-of-care: quantitative findings from a pilot study.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- 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
- Patient-level predictors of temporal regularity of primary care visits.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Article
- Emergency department presentations and associated hospital admissions for low back pain in Australia.Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA · 2022Article
- Differences between recorded diagnoses of patients of an emergency department and office-hours primary care doctors: a register-based study in a Finnish town.International journal of circumpolar health · 2021Article
- Telemedicine in cystic fibrosis.Journal of clinical & translational endocrinology · 2021Article
- Associations between regular GP contact, diabetes monitoring and glucose control: an observational study using general practice data.BMJ open · 2021Observational
- Regularity and Continuity of GP Contacts and Use of Statins Amongst People at Risk of Cardiovascular Events.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021 · on this mapObservational
- 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
- Article
- Collaborative Ambulatory Orthopaedic Care in Patients with Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Retrospective Comparative Cohort Study on Health Utilisation and Economic Outcomes.International journal of integrated careArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the association between continuity of provider-adjusted regularity of general practitioner (GP) contact and unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation or emergency department (ED) presentation.
designCross-sectional study.
settingIndividual-level linked self-report and administrative health service data from New South Wales, Australia.
participants27 409 survey respondents aged ≥45 years with a prior history of diabetes and at least three GP contacts between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2015.
main outcome measuresUnplanned diabetes-related hospitalisations or ED presentations, associated costs and bed days.
resultsTwenty-one per cent of respondents had an unplanned diabetes-related hospitalisation or ED presentation. Increasing regularity of GP contact was associated with a lower probability of hospitalisation or ED presentation (19.9% for highest quintile, 23.5% for the lowest quintile). Conditional on having an event, there was a small decrease in the number of hospitalisations or ED presentations for the low (-6%) and moderate regularity quintiles (-8%), a reduction in bed days (ranging from -30 to -44%) and a reduction in average cost of between -23% and -41%, all relative to the lowest quintile. When probability of diabetes-related hospitalisation or ED presentation was included, only the inverse association with cost remained significant (mean of $A3798 to $A6350 less per individual, compared with the lowest regularity quintile). Importantly, continuity of provider did not significantly modify the effect of GP regularity for any outcome.
conclusionsHigher regularity of GP contact-that is more evenly dispersed, not necessarily more frequent care-has the potential to reduce secondary healthcare costs and, conditional on having an event, the time spent in hospital, irrespective of continuity of provider. These findings argue for the advocacy of regular care, as distinct from solely continuity of provider, when designing policy and financial incentives for GP-led primary care.
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