[Is change of general practitioners more frequent among patients diagnosed with cancer or other serious diseases?].
BACKGROUND
Change of GP may imply that the patient is dissatisfied with the health service provided. The aim of this study was to investigate whether newly diagnosed cancer patients change their GP more often than other patient groups and the background population.


METHODS
The investigation was conducted using data on inhabitants from the counties of Aarhus, Vejle and South Jutland. We included 900 Group 1 insured patients, aged 18-75 years, distributed into three groups: 1) frequent cancers, 2) rare cancers and 3) benign, but chronic or severe new diseases. The diagnoses included occurred for the first time at the time of inclusion. Three hundred controls were randomly selected from the regional health care registry in Aarhus. The study period was from March 1 to August 30 1994. A change of GP was defined as a change not caused by the patient's change of residence or the GP's change of practice registration number due to expansion, takeover or split up of practice.


RESULTS
In the three disease groups, 28 cases of change of GP were registered with a frequency of 5% (frequent cancers), 2.7% (rare cancers) and 1.7% (benign, but chronic or severe new diseases). The frequency in the background population was 2.7%. None of the differences were statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
During the first year following a cancer or chronic disease diagnosis, change of GP is rare, particularly among patients with rare cancers. We reject the hypothesis that change of GP is frequent among newly diagnosed cancer patients.
Drachmann
Thomas Teglgaard
TT
Aarhus Universitet, Forskningsenheden for Almen Medicin, Vennelyst Boulevard 6, DK-8000 Arhus C. fo@alm.au.dk
Storgaard
Lone
L
Olesen
Frede
F
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D003718:Denmark; D005194:Family Practice / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012042:Registries