Observational studyBMC primary care2022
Underuse of primary healthcare in France during the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020 according to individual characteristics: a national observational study.
Observational study in BMC primary care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trial
- Health care management adequacy among French persons with severe profound intellectual and multiple disabilities: a longitudinal study.BMC health services research · 2024Trial
- Hospitalisation for acute heart failure and in-hospital mortality before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic in France: a nationwide cohort study from 2013 to 2024.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- The evolution of consultation practices with general practitioners and nephrologists for patients with chronic kidney disease before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in France.Journal of nephrology · 2025Article
- Non-COVID-19 mortality among older people or with chronic conditions during year 2020 in France: a nationwide cohort study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The impact of hospital saturation on non-COVID-19 hospital mortality during the pandemic in France: a national population-based cohort study.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Assessment of the dynamics of inpatient health care delivery in Poland before and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Age at death during the Covid-19 lockdown in French metropolitan regions: a non parametric quantile regression approach.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Patterns of psychotropic drug prescriptions and general practice consultations among community-dwelling older people with dementia during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Influence of practice location on prescribing, diabetes care, and colorectal cancer screening among Czech general practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic.Epidemiology and health · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of Using the FreeStyle LibreDiagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- COVID-19 Continues to Burden General Practitioners: Impact on Workload, Provision of Care, and Intention to Leave.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe organization of healthcare systems changed significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The impact on the use of primary care during various key periods in 2020 has been little studied.
methodsUsing individual data from the national health database, we compared the numbers of people with at least one consultation, deaths, the total number of consultations for the population of mainland France (64.3 million) and the mean number of consultations per person (differentiating between teleconsultations and consultations in person) between 2019 and 2020. We performed analyses by week, by lockdown period (March 17 to May 10, and October 30 to December 14 [less strict]), and for the entire year. Analyses were stratified for age, sex, deprivation index, epidemic level, and disease.
resultsDuring the first lockdown, 26% of the population consulted a general practitioner (GP) at least once (-34% relative to 2019), 7.4% consulted a nurse (-28%), 1.6% a physiotherapist (-80%), and 5% a dentist (-95%). For specialists, consultations were down 82% for ophthalmologists and 37% for psychiatrists. The deficit was smaller for specialties making significant use of teleconsultations. During the second lockdown, the number of consultations was close to that in 2019, except for GPs (-7%), pediatricians (-8%), and nurses (+ 39%). Nurses had already seen a smaller increase in weekly consultations during the summer, following their authorization to perform COVID-19 screening tests. The decrease in the annual number of consultations was largest for dentists (-17%), physiotherapists (-14%), and many specialists (approximately 10%). The mean number of consultations per person was slightly lower for the various specialties, particularly for nurses (15.1 vs. 18.6). The decrease in the number of consultations was largest for children and adolescents (GPs: -10%, dentists: -13%). A smaller decrease was observed for patients with chronic diseases and with increasing age. There were 9% excess deaths, mostly in individuals over 60 years of age.
conclusionsThere was a marked decrease in primary care consultations in France, especially during the first lockdown, despite strong teleconsultation activity, with differences according to age and healthcare profession. The impact of this decrease in care on morbidity and mortality merits further investigation.
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