title: 70,489 primary care encounters: retrospective analysis of morbidity at a primary care centre in Ireland.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  While considerable changes are happening in primary care in Ireland and considerable potential exists in intelligence derived from practice-based data to inform these changes, relatively few large-scale general morbidity surveys have been published.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine the most common reasons why people attend primary care, specifically 'reasons for encounter' (RFEs) among the general practice population and among specific demographic groups (i.e., young children and older adults).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively examined clinical encounters (which had a diagnostic code) over a 4-year time period. Descriptive analyses were conducted on anonymised data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  70,489 RFEs consultations were recorded (mean 13.53 recorded RFEs per person per annum) and consultations involving multiple RFEs were common. RFE categories for which codes were most commonly recorded were: 'general/unspecified' (31.6 %), 'respiratory' (15.4 %) and 'musculoskeletal' (12.6 %). Most commonly recorded codes were: 'medication renewal' (6.8 %), 'cough' (6.6 %), and 'health maintenance/prevention' (5.8 %). There was considerable variation in the number of RFEs recorded per age group. 6239 RFEs (8.9 %) were recorded by children under 6 years and 15,295 RFEs (21.7 %) were recorded by adults aged over 70. RFEs recorded per calendar month increased consistently through the study period and there was a marked seasonal and temporal variation in the number of RFEs recorded.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practice databases can generate intelligence on morbidity and health service utilisation in the community. Future research to optimise diagnostic coding at a practice level and to promote this activity in a more representative sample of practices is a priority.
authors.affiliation: Mallow Primary HealthCare Centre, Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland. molonydavid@gmail.com.|Graduate-Entry Medical School, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. molonydavid@gmail.com.|HSE Southwest Specialist Training Programme in General Practice, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland. molonydavid@gmail.com.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molony
authors.affiliation: 'CompleteGP', Mallow, Co. Cork, Ireland.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Beame
authors.affiliation: UCD School of Medicine, Health Sciences Building, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.|Walkinstown Primary Care Centre, Dublin 12, Ireland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Behan
authors.affiliation: HSE Southwest Specialist Training Programme in General Practice, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crowley
authors.affiliation: HSE Southwest Specialist Training Programme in General Practice, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dennehy
authors.affiliation: HSE Southwest Specialist Training Programme in General Practice, Tralee, Co Kerry, Ireland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Quinlan
authors.affiliation: UCD School of Medicine, Health Sciences Building, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Cullen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003371:Cough / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Epidemiology; ICPC; Morbidity; Primary care