Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33606660›Full record

SynthesisThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2021

Which patients miss appointments with general practice and the reasons why: a systematic review.

Joanne Parsons, Carol Bryce, Helen Atherton

Open access · hybridAbstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 53 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
53citing papers in PubMed
15.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

53 citing papers in PubMed, 73 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
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  11. Prevalence and Drivers of Missed Healthcare Appointments in Poland: Insights From a 2025 Survey.Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research · 2026
    Article
  12. Article
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  14. Exploring Parental Views of Remote Vision Testing in Children.The British and Irish orthoptic journal · 2026
    Article
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  16. Observational
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  19. On Missed Appointments: The Ethics of Nonattendance in General Practice.Journal of evaluation in clinical practice · 2025
    Article
  20. Improving general practice appointment booking processes: bureaucratic justice and patient-centred reforms.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Joanne ParsonsWarwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Carol BryceWarwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
Helen AthertonWarwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
University of Warwick · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMissed GP appointments have considerable time and cost implications for healthcare services.

aimThis systematic review aims to explore the rate of missed primary care appointments, what the reported reasons are for appointments being missed, and which patients are more likely to miss appointments. DESIGN AND

settingThis study reports the findings of a systematic review. The included studies report the rate or reasons of missed appointments in a primary care setting.

methodDatabases were searched using a pre-defined search strategy. Eligible studies were selected for inclusion based on detailed inclusion criteria through title, abstract, and full text screening. Quality was assessed on all included studies, and findings were synthesised to answer the research questions.

resultsA total of 26 studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. Of these, 19 reported a rate of missed appointments. The mean rate of missed appointments was 15.2%, with a median of 12.9%. Twelve studies reported a reason that appointments were missed, with work or family/childcare commitments, forgetting the appointment, and transportation difficulties most commonly reported. In all, 20 studies reported characteristics of people likely to miss appointments. Patients who were likely to miss appointments were those from minority ethnicity, low sociodemographic status, and younger patients (

conclusionFindings from this review have potential implications for targeted interventions to address missed appointments in primary care. This is the first step for clinicians to be able to target interventions to reduce the rate of missed appointments.

Indexed as

General PracticeText MessagingAppointments and SchedulesFamily PracticeHumansPrimary Health Caredid not attendgeneral practicemissed appointmentsprimary care

Identifiers

PMID33606660
PMCPMC8103926
OpenAlexW3132376007

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.