Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36921284›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of public health2023

Regional variations in multimorbidity burden among office-based physicians in Germany.

Isabel Geiger, Ronja Flemming, Wiebke Schüttig, Leonie Sundmacher

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 26% 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

2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
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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

4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Isabel GeigerInstitute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry, and Epidemiology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-2303-2190
Ronja FlemmingChair of Health Economics, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Wiebke SchüttigChair of Health Economics, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Leonie SundmacherChair of Health Economics, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Technical University of Munich · DEZimmer Biomet (Germany) · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMultimorbidity is associated with higher utilization of healthcare services. However, many countries do not consider multimorbidity when estimating physician supply. The main aim of this study was to assess how regional multimorbidity levels can be integrated when estimating the need for office-based physician supply.

methodsClaims data were used to measure and compare the proportions of multimorbid patients of GPs, ophthalmologists, orthopaedic specialists and neurologists, and examine spatial variations through Bernoulli cluster analysis of regional multimorbidity levels. To explore the interrelationship between current capacities and spatial occurrence of high-rate clusters, clusters were compared with the current supply of physicians.

resultsAbout 17 239 488 individuals out of approximately 67 million records were classified as multimorbid. Multimorbidity levels varied greatly between physician disciplines (31.5-60.1%). Bernoulli cluster analysis demonstrated that many high-rate areas were found for all specialized physicians, but clusters varied partially by size and location. The comparison with current physician supply at cluster level showed that more than a third of clusters with a significantly higher share of morbid patients seeing a GP are met, on an average, by GP supply below targeted values. In turn, clusters with significantly higher multimorbidity levels of specialized physicians were met, on an average, by supply that exceeded targeted values.

conclusionOur study offers an approach to how to include discipline-specific multimorbidity at area level when estimating physician supply and discusses its relevance. The outcomes of our article can be used by policymakers to advance current planning strategies and to improve the quality of office-based care.

Indexed as

MultimorbidityPhysiciansCluster AnalysisGermanyHealth ServicesHumans

Identifiers

PMID36921284
PMCPMC10234650
OpenAlexW4324328528

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.