ArticleBMJ open2022
Changes in primary care visits arising from the COVID-19 pandemic: an international comparative study by the International Consortium of Primary Care Big Data Researchers (INTRePID).
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers.
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.
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
56 citing papers in PubMed.
- Young adults' access to mental health care: integrating the Primary Care Behavioral Health model into routine care in Sweden.BMC health services research · 2026Trial
- Home Visits as a Primary Health Care Strategy During COVID-19: Protocol for a Scoping Review.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Complexity of medical needs and primary care attachment shape patient experiences with episodic virtual primary care: a mixed methods study in two Canadian provinces.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- From Needles to Numbers: Leveraging Electronic Medical Records in Acupuncture Studies.Medical acupuncture · 2026Article
- Trends in First-Time Symptomatic Antidementia Drug Dispensations to Home-Dwelling People in Norway: A Nationwide Register-Based Study.Drugs - real world outcomes · 2026Article
- Primary care and care continuity in the context of a health crisis: lessons learned from the Brazilian reality.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Exploring English and Swedish General Practitioners' Behavioral Intentions to Use Telemedicine: Comparative Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Trends in Antithrombotic Therapy Initiation Among Patients With Stroke Pre- and Post-COVID-19 in Sweden-An Interrupted Time Series Study.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2026Article
- Implementing Information Resources to Support Shared Decisions in Australian Primary Care: A Qualitative Perspective of an Antimicrobial Stewardship Strategy.Antibiotics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Primary care for depression before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a retrospective pre-post study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Longitudinal healthcare utilization among traumatic spinal cord injury patients: a 20 year retrospective study using population-based data.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Lingering Effects on the Ecology of Medical Care After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Nationwide Repeated Cross-Sectional Study in Japan.Journal of general and family medicine · 2025Article
- Trends in outpatient healthcare visits among adults aged 50 years and older in 27 European countries: analysis of population-based survey data, 2004-2022.The Lancet regional health. Europe · 2025Article
- Lyme Borreliosis Incidence Across Europe, 2015-2023: A Surveillance-Based Review and Analysis.Vector borne and zoonotic diseases (Larchmont, N.Y.) · 2025Review
- The impact of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on general practitioner contacts among patients with common and at-risk diagnoses: a Norwegian registry-based study.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2025Article
- In-Person and Virtual Clinic Visit Frequency to Rheumatologists for Rheumatoid Arthritis at an Academic Medical Center Before, During, and After COVID Lockdown.Rheumatology and therapy · 2025Article
- Beyond the pandemic: rising administrative demands and changing disease profiles in primary care.Israel journal of health policy research · 2025Article
- Commentary on "A randomized controlled trial of native CHOICES: Impact on alcohol-exposed pregnancy (AEP) risk reduction among American Indian and Alaska Native women" by Hanson and colleagues.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2025Article
- Primary care insights on the management of diabetes: results from a mixed method study of care changes and impacts during the COVID-19 pandemic.Family practice · 2025Article
- Accessibility of eHealth Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among People With and People Without Impairment: Repeated Cross-Sectional Survey.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
19 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThrough the
methodsVisit definitions were agreed on centrally, implemented locally across the various settings in INTRePID countries, and weekly visit counts were shared centrally for analysis. We evaluated the weekly rate of primary care physician visits during 2019 and 2020. Rate ratios (RRs) of total weekly visit volume and the proportion of weekly visits that were virtual in the pandemic period in 2020 compared with the same prepandemic period in 2019 were calculated.
resultsIn 2019 and 2020, there were 80 889 386 primary care physician visits across INTRePID. During the pandemic, average weekly visit volume dropped in China, Singapore, South Korea, and the USA but was stable overall in Australia (RR 0.98 (95% CI 0.92 to 1.05, p=0.59)), Canada (RR 0.96 (95% CI 0.89 to 1.03, p=0.24)), Norway (RR 1.01 (95% CI 0.88 to 1.17, p=0.85)), Sweden (RR 0.91 (95% CI 0.79 to 1.06, p=0.22)) and the UK (RR 0.86 (95% CI 0.72 to 1.03, p=0.11)). In countries that had negligible virtual care prepandemic, the proportion of visits that were virtual were highest in Canada (77.0%) and Australia (41.8%). In Norway (RR 8.23 (95% CI 5.30 to 12.78, p<0.001), the UK (RR 2.36 (95% CI 2.24 to 2.50, p<0.001)) and Sweden (RR 1.33 (95% CI 1.17 to 1.50, p<0.001)) where virtual visits existed prepandemic, it increased significantly during the pandemic.
conclusionsThe drop in primary care in-person visits during the pandemic was a global phenomenon across INTRePID countries. In several countries, primary care shifted to virtual visits mitigating the drop in in-person visits.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.