Bénédicte Vos, Laura Debouverie, Kris Doggen, Nicolas Delvaux, Bert Aertgeerts, Robrecht De Schreye, Bert Vaes
{"title":"Monitoring COVID-19 in Belgian general practice: A tool for syndromic surveillance based on electronic health records.","authors":"Bénédicte Vos, Laura Debouverie, Kris Doggen, Nicolas Delvaux, Bert Aertgeerts, Robrecht De Schreye, Bert Vaes","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2023.2293699","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2023.2293699","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>COVID-19 may initially manifest as flu-like symptoms. As such, general practitioners (GPs) will likely to play an important role in monitoring the pandemic through syndromic surveillance.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To present a COVID-19 syndromic surveillance tool in Belgian general practices.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We performed a nationwide observational prospective study in Belgian general practices. The surveillance tool extracted the daily entries of diagnostic codes for COVID-19 and associated conditions (suspected or confirmed COVID-19, acute respiratory infection and influenza-like illness) from electronic medical records. We calculated the 7-day rolling average for these diagnoses and compared them with data from two other Belgian population-based sources (laboratory-confirmed new COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions for COVID-19), using time series analysis. We also collected data from users and stakeholders about the syndromic surveillance tool and performed a thematic analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>4773 out of 11,935 practising GPs in Belgium participated in the study. The curve of contacts for suspected COVID-19 followed a similar trend compared with the curves of the official data sources: laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospital admissions but with a 10-day delay for the latter. Data were quickly available and useful for decision making, but some technical and methodological components can be improved, such as a greater standardisation between EMR software developers.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The syndromic surveillance tool for COVID-19 in primary care provides rapidly available data useful in all phases of the COVID-19 pandemic to support data-driven decision-making. Potential enhancements were identified for a prospective surveillance tool.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2293699"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10776082/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139378821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Primary Health Care through 'health providers' eyes': Α qualitative study of focus groups and individual interviews in Greece.","authors":"Foteini Michalaki, Korina Marina Triantafillopoulou, Ilias Pagkozidis, Ilias Tirodimos, Theodoros Dardavesis, Zoi Tsimtsiou","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2382218","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2382218","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Primary Health Care (PHC) was the cornerstone of the pandemic response.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>We aimed to explore the positive and negative impact of the pandemic, during its final wave, through 'PHC providers' eyes', as well as their recommendations towards restructuring and enhancing PHC services.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A two-phase qualitative study was conducted, pursuing data triangulation from Focus Groups (FGs) and individual, semi-structured interviews for the purposes of data completeness and confirmation (summer 2022 and spring 2023, respectively). A purposive sample of settings was employed, including in total five PHC units according to location with different population distribution; one in Athens (FGs) and four in Northern Greece (interviews). Inductive content analysis was used.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In total, 24 PHC professionals participated in FGs, whereas 17 were individually interviewed. Our findings reflect a general understanding of the pandemic's positive imprint, namely acceleration of digitalisation, establishment of health protection measures, recognition of PHC's role, raise in public awareness of primary prevention, team-cooperation, increase in providers' self-efficacy, appointment of health professionals and re-organisation of accessibility. The negative impact is summarised in fatigue/burnout in PHC providers, patient safety concerns and changes in patients' behaviour. To increase resilience, participants suggest restructuring PHC, recruiting PHC personnel and enhancing digital infrastructure, maintenance of sanitary protection measures, investment in quality, and empowering patients through health literacy.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Based on the lessons learnt, building further on the pandemic-accelerated digitalisation, emphasising on quality improvement and patient safety, ensuring providers' well-being, and empowering citizens through health literacy could be key in promoting PHC resilience.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2382218"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11275516/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141762691","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comment on: Climate change is a health issue. The general practitioner and planetary health by Stoffers & Muris 2023.","authors":"Oisín Brady Bates, Natasha Freeman","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2023.2298332","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2023.2298332","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2298332"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10810653/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139542437","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Why are our medicines so expensive? Spoiler: Not for the reasons you are being told….","authors":"Els Torreele","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2308006","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2308006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Often described as a natural economic trend, the prices that pharmaceutical companies charge for new medicines have skyrocketed in recent years. Companies claim these prices are justified because of the 'value' new treatments represent or that they reflect the high costs and risks associated with the research and development process. They also claim that the revenues generated through these high prices are required to pay for continued innovation.This paper argues that high prices are not inevitable but the result of a societal and political choice to rely on a for-profit business model for medical innovation, selling medicines at the highest price possible. Instead of focusing on therapeutic advances, it prioritises profit maximisation to benefit shareholders and investors over improving people's health outcomes or equitable access.As a result, people and health systems worldwide struggle to pay for the increasingly expensive health products, with growing inequities in access to even life-saving medicines while the biopharmaceutical industry and its financiers are the most lucrative business sectors.As the extreme COVID-19 vaccine inequities once again highlighted, we urgently need to reform the social contract between governments, the biopharmaceutical industry, and the public and restore its original health purpose. Policymakers must redesign policies and financing of the pharmaceutical research and development ecosystem such that public and private sectors work together towards the shared objective of responding to public health and patients' needs, rather than maximising financial return because medicines should not be a luxury.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2308006"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10836477/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139652189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Laure Wynants, Natascha Jh Broers, Tamara N Platteel, Roderick P Venekamp, Dennis G Barten, Mathie Pg Leers, Theo Jm Verheij, Patricia M Stassen, Jochen Wl Cals, Eefje Gpm de Bont
{"title":"Development and validation of a risk prediction model for hospital admission in COVID-19 patients presenting to primary care.","authors":"Laure Wynants, Natascha Jh Broers, Tamara N Platteel, Roderick P Venekamp, Dennis G Barten, Mathie Pg Leers, Theo Jm Verheij, Patricia M Stassen, Jochen Wl Cals, Eefje Gpm de Bont","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2339488","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2024.2339488","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>There is a paucity of prognostic models for COVID-19 that are usable for in-office patient assessment in general practice (GP).</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To develop and validate a risk prediction model for hospital admission with readily available predictors.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A retrospective cohort study linking GP records from 8 COVID-19 centres and 55 general practices in the Netherlands to hospital admission records. The development cohort spanned March to June 2020, the validation cohort March to June 2021. The primary outcome was hospital admission within 14 days. We used geographic leave-region-out cross-validation in the development cohort and temporal validation in the validation cohort.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the development cohort, 4,806 adult patients with COVID-19 consulted their GP (median age 56, 56% female); in the validation cohort 830 patients did (median age 56, 52% female). In the development and validation cohort respectively, 292 (6.1%) and 126 (15.2%) were admitted to the hospital within 14 days, respectively. A logistic regression model based on sex, smoking, symptoms, vital signs and comorbidities predicted hospital admission with a c-index of 0.84 (95% CI 0.83 to 0.86) at geographic cross-validation and 0.79 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.83) at temporal validation, and was reasonably well calibrated (intercept -0.08, 95% CI -0.98 to 0.52, slope 0.89, 95% CI 0.71 to 1.07 at geographic cross-validation and intercept 0.02, 95% CI -0.21 to 0.24, slope 0.82, 95% CI 0.64 to 1.00 at temporal validation).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>We derived a risk model using readily available variables at GP assessment to predict hospital admission for COVID-19. It performed accurately across regions and waves. Further validation on cohorts with acquired immunity and newer SARS-CoV-2 variants is recommended.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2339488"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11060008/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140854432","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Georgios Dimitrios Karampatakis, Samuel Kimber, Helen E Wood, Chris J Griffiths, Stephanie J C Taylor, Xiancheng Li, Bill Day, Jonathan Mant, Clare Relton, Jane S Watson, Viv Marsh, Neil S Coulson, Anna De Simoni
{"title":"Development of the face-to-face component and recruitment strategy of a primary care digital social intervention for patients with asthma: Qualitative focus groups and interviews with stakeholders.","authors":"Georgios Dimitrios Karampatakis, Samuel Kimber, Helen E Wood, Chris J Griffiths, Stephanie J C Taylor, Xiancheng Li, Bill Day, Jonathan Mant, Clare Relton, Jane S Watson, Viv Marsh, Neil S Coulson, Anna De Simoni","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2407594","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2407594","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>5.4 million people in the UK have asthma, with one third experiencing suboptimal control, leading to co-morbidities and increased healthcare use. A quarter of people with long-term conditions informally access peer support through online health communities (OHCs). However, integrating online peer support into primary care services to facilitate self-management is a new concept.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To develop together with stakeholders the content, delivery, and recruitment strategy of a digital social intervention to promote use of online peer support amongst asthma patients in primary care.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data was collected by qualitative, audio-recorded, one-to-one interviews with clinicians, and focus groups with patients with asthma from East London general practices. The topic guide was informed by patient and public involvement work. Data collected was iterative (i.e. new ideas were added to subsequent interviews and focus groups). Verbatim transcripts were uploaded to NVivo12 and thematically analysed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Twenty patients from several ethnicities participated across five focus groups, and three general practitioners and three practice nurses were interviewed. The study's outputs included: the intervention's face-to-face content; content of clinician training; patient-facing leaflets/material; and a survey to recruit eligible patients. An intervention consisting of a structured consultation with a primary care clinician followed by OHC engagement, was developed based on three generated themes: 'introducing OHCs', describing how clinicians should introduce OHCs; 'OHC engagement', describing factors influencing OHC engagement; and 'clinician training'.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Findings will assist clinicians in consultations about supporting self-management of patients through OHCs. Future research should evaluate feasibility, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of such support.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2407594"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11441056/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142332449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maxime Adriana Maria van der Velden, Hevy Hassan, Dieuwke Schiphof, Madelon van Tilborg-den Boeft, Sylvia Buis, Wilma Jansen, Patrick Jan Eugène Bindels, Marienke van Middelkoop
{"title":"General Practitioners practice nurses and parents' perspectives on childhood overweight management - a qualitative study.","authors":"Maxime Adriana Maria van der Velden, Hevy Hassan, Dieuwke Schiphof, Madelon van Tilborg-den Boeft, Sylvia Buis, Wilma Jansen, Patrick Jan Eugène Bindels, Marienke van Middelkoop","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2402259","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2402259","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Overweight and obesity in children is a major health problem. General practice might be a promising setting for identifying and for the first steps in the management of overweight and obesity in children.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To explore opinions, needs and preferences about the role of general practice in the management of overweight and obesity in children from the perspectives of Dutch general practitioners (GPs), practice nurses (PNs) and parents of children with and without overweight.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A qualitative study using semi-structured focus group interviews. GPs and PNs were recruited from general practices from the region South-Western. Parents were mainly recruited via social media and primary schools. Twenty-five GPs, seven PNs and 18 parents were interviewed. All interviews were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>GPs, PNs and parents agreed that it is the task of the GP to identify, address and refer children with overweight and obesity. However, GPs find it difficult to start this conversation due to time constraints; fear for the reaction of parents and children; lack of clarity about treatment and referral options. Parents indicated they are open to a conversation if the GP is non-judgmental, honest and respectful. PNs saw no role in managing overweight and obesity in children.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Although GPs experience several barriers, GPs, PNs and parents all agreed that GPs should play a role in identifying, addressing and referring children with overweight and obesity. Supportive tools are required for GPs in order to play this role.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2402259"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11441054/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142332450","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Hugo Figoni, Sarah Robert, Kim Bonello, Gladys Ibanez, Julie Chastang, Candice Estellat
{"title":"Generic dispensing rates for substitutable drugs prescribed by general practitioners compared with other private ambulatory specialists: A study based on a French national reimbursement database.","authors":"Hugo Figoni, Sarah Robert, Kim Bonello, Gladys Ibanez, Julie Chastang, Candice Estellat","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2407600","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/13814788.2024.2407600","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The use of generic drugs is a way for healthcare systems to reduce costs, particularly in ambulatory care. Several studies suggest that the prescriber's speciality is associated with the use of generic drugs, and that substitutable drugs prescribed by General Practitioners (GPs) are more often generic, but this association has never been studied in France. In the French legislative context, except in rare situations, all substitutable drugs prescribed should be dispensed in generic form.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Compare the generic drugs dispensing rate among substitutable drugs dispensed in community pharmacies prescribed by French private GPs with that of other private specialists, all other specialities combined (first objective) or each other speciality taken individually (second objective).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used a sample of an open available semi-aggregated database from the 2019 French health insurance system database. We compared with logistic regression models GPs to all other specialities combined, then GPs to the 19 other specialties taken individually, only on the substitutable drugs they prescribe in common.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In 2019, 53.4% of the drugs prescribed by French private ambulatory physicians were substitutable drugs, and 81.5% of them were dispensed in generic form. After adjustment, the generic dispensing rate for substitutable drugs was significantly higher for GPs than for other specialties (ORa 0.74 [IC95% 0.72-0.76]). Thirteen of the nineteen other specialities taken individually, such as endocrinologists (ORa 0.64 [IC95% 0.57-0.72]) and cardiologists (ORa 0.60 [0.56-0.63]) had significantly lower generic dispensing rates than GPs. No other speciality had a rate significantly higher than GPs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Substitutable drugs prescribed by French private GPs are more often dispensed in generic form than those from other private ambulatory specialties. To understand this result and optimise the use of generic drugs in outpatient settings, we need to study the different stages of drug use, from prescription by the physician to dispensing by the pharmacist and acceptance by the patient.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2407600"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11486039/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142480999","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Looking back at the EJGP in 2023: What a rich harvest of relevant publications for primary care medicine!","authors":"Jelle Stoffers","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2353237","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2353237","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2353237"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11123451/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141088393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Roderick P Venekamp, Marinus J C Eijkemans, Nicolaas P A Zuithoff, Femke Böhmer, Slawomir Chlabicz, Annelies Colliers, Ana García-Sangenís, Lile Malania, Jozsef Pauer, Angela Tomacinschii, Theo J Verheij, Herman Goossens, Akke Vellinga, Christopher C Butler, Alike W van der Velden
{"title":"Did aetiology matter in illness duration and complications in patients presenting in primary care with acute respiratory tract infections early in the COVID-19 pandemic: An observational study in nine countries.","authors":"Roderick P Venekamp, Marinus J C Eijkemans, Nicolaas P A Zuithoff, Femke Böhmer, Slawomir Chlabicz, Annelies Colliers, Ana García-Sangenís, Lile Malania, Jozsef Pauer, Angela Tomacinschii, Theo J Verheij, Herman Goossens, Akke Vellinga, Christopher C Butler, Alike W van der Velden","doi":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2376084","DOIUrl":"10.1080/13814788.2024.2376084","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Despite considerable research into COVID-19 sequelae, little is known about differences in illness duration and complications in patients presenting in primary care with symptoms of acute respiratory tract infections (RTI) that are and are not attributed to SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To explore whether aetiology impacted course of illness and prediction of complications in patients presenting in primary care with symptoms of RTI early in the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Between April 2020-March 2021 general practitioners from nine European countries recruited consecutively contacting patients with RTI symptoms. At baseline, an oropharyngeal-nasal swab was obtained for aetiology determination using PCR after follow-up of 28 days. Time to self-reported recovery was analysed with Kaplan-Meier curves. Predictors (baseline variables of demographics, patient and disease characteristics) of a complicated course (composite of hospital admission and persisting signs/symptoms at 28 days follow-up) were explored with logistic regression modelling.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 855 patients with RTI symptoms, 237 (27.7%) tested SARS-CoV-2 positive. The proportion not feeling fully recovered (15.6% vs 18.1%, <i>p</i> = 0.39), reporting being extremely tired (9.7% vs 12.8%, <i>p</i> = 0.21), and not having returned to usual daily activities (18.1% vs 14.4%, <i>p</i> = 0.18) at day 28 were comparable between SARS-CoV-2 positive (<i>n</i> = 237) and negative (<i>n</i> = 618) groups. However, among those feeling fully recovered (SARS-CoV-2 positive: 200 patients, SARS-CoV-2 negative: 506 patients), time to full recovery was significantly longer in SARS-CoV-2 patients (10.6 vs 7.7 days, <i>p</i> < 0.001). We found no evidence that predictors of a complicated course differed between groups (<i>p</i> = 0.07).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Early in the pandemic, the proportion of patients not feeling fully recovered by 28 days was similar between SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients presenting in primary care with RTI symptoms, but it took somewhat longer for SARS-CoV-2 patients to feel fully recovered. More research is needed on predictors of a complicated course in RTI.</p>","PeriodicalId":54380,"journal":{"name":"European Journal of General Practice","volume":"30 1","pages":"2376084"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11249142/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141592143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}