IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0074814.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prospectively Collected Characteristics of Adult Patients, Their Consultations and Outcomes as They Report Breathlessness When Presenting to General Practice in Australia

Author

Listed:
  • David C Currow
  • Katherine Clark
  • Geoffrey K Mitchell
  • Miriam J Johnson
  • Amy P Abernethy

Abstract

Introduction: Breathlessness is a subjective sensation, so understanding its impacts requires patients’ reports, including prospective patient-defined breathlessness as a reason for presenting to general practitioners (GP).The aim of this study was to define the prevalence of breathlessness as a reason for GP consultations while defining the clinico-demographic factors of these patients and the characteristics and outcomes of those consultations. Methods: Using nine years of the Family Medicine Research Centre database of 100 consecutive encounters from 1,000 practices annually, the patient-defined reason for encounter ‘breathlessness’ was explored using prospectively collected data in people ≥18 years with clinical data coded using the International Classification for Primary Care V2. Dichotomous variables were analysed using chi square and 95% confidence intervals calculated using Kish’s formula for a single stage clustered design. Results: Of all the 755,729 consultations collected over a nine year period from 1 April, 2000, 7255 included breathlessness as a reason for encounter (0.96%; 95% CI 0.93 to 0.99) most frequently attributed to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Only 48.3% of GPs saw someone reporting breathlessness. The proportion of consultations with breathlessness increased with age. Breathlessness trebled the likelihood that the consultation occurred in the community rather than the consulting room (p

Suggested Citation

  • David C Currow & Katherine Clark & Geoffrey K Mitchell & Miriam J Johnson & Amy P Abernethy, 2013. "Prospectively Collected Characteristics of Adult Patients, Their Consultations and Outcomes as They Report Breathlessness When Presenting to General Practice in Australia," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(9), pages 1-1, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0074814
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074814
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0074814
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0074814&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0074814?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gijsbers van Wijk, Cecile M. T. & Huisman, Henk & Kolk, Annemarie M., 1999. "Gender differences in physical symptoms and illness behavior: A health diary study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 49(8), pages 1061-1074, October.
    2. van Wijk, Cécile M. T. Gijsbers & Kolk, Annemarie M., 1997. "Sex differences in physical symptoms: The contribution of symptom perception theory," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 231-246, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Van Diest, Ilse & De Peuter, Steven & Eertmans, Audrey & Bogaerts, Katleen & Victoir, An & Van den Bergh, Omer, 2005. "Negative affectivity and enhanced symptom reports: Differentiating between symptoms in men and women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1835-1845, October.
    2. Koopmans, Gerrit T. & Lamers, Leida M., 2007. "Gender and health care utilization: The role of mental distress and help-seeking propensity," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(6), pages 1216-1230, March.
    3. Orfila, Francesc & Ferrer, Montserrat & Lamarca, Rosa & Tebe, Cristian & Domingo-Salvany, Antonia & Alonso, Jordi, 2006. "Gender differences in health-related quality of life among the elderly: The role of objective functional capacity and chronic conditions," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(9), pages 2367-2380, November.
    4. Brandner, Susanne & Müller-Nordhorn, Jacqueline & Stritter, Wiebke & Fotopoulou, Christina & Sehouli, Jalid & Holmberg, Christine, 2014. "Symptomization and triggering processes: Ovarian cancer patients' narratives on pre-diagnostic sensation experiences and the initiation of healthcare seeking," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 123-130.
    5. Torsheim, Torbjørn & Ravens-Sieberer, Ulrike & Hetland, Jorn & Välimaa, Raili & Danielson, Mia & Overpeck, Mary, 2006. "Cross-national variation of gender differences in adolescent subjective health in Europe and North America," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 815-827, February.
    6. Quan-Hoang Vuong, 2017. "Psychological gender differences in general health examinations: evidence from a 2016 Vietnamese cross-section dataset," Working Papers CEB 17-005, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    7. Frida Thorsen & Carl Antonson & Jan Sundquist & Kristina Sundquist, 2016. "Perceived Stress and Psychiatric Symptoms in Swedish Upper Secondary School Students," Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 6(2), pages 183-183, November.
    8. Thomas Heilskov-Hansen & Susanne Wulff Svendsen & Jane Frølund Thomsen & Sigurd Mikkelsen & Gert-Åke Hansson, 2014. "Sex Differences in Task Distribution and Task Exposures among Danish House Painters: An Observational Study Combining Questionnaire Data with Biomechanical Measurements," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-10, November.
    9. Jungsun Park & Yangho Kim, 2020. "Association of Exposure to a Combination of Ergonomic Risk Factors with Musculoskeletal Symptoms in Korean Workers," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(24), pages 1-10, December.
    10. M. A. Kaneva, 2021. "Health Capital Estimates for Russian Regions in 2004–2018," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 524-532, October.
    11. Quan-Hoang Vuong & Kien-Cuong P. Nghiem & Viet-Phuong La & Thu-Trang Vuong & Hong-Kong T. Nguyen & Manh-Toan Ho & Kien Tran & Thu-Hong Khuat & Manh-Tung Ho, 2019. "Sex Differences and Psychological Factors Associated with General Health Examinations Participation: Results from a Vietnamese Cross-Section Dataset," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-13, January.
    12. Gail Pacheco & Dom Page & Don Webber, 2012. "Mental and physical health: reconceptualising the relationship with employment propensity," Working Papers 20121206, Department of Accounting, Economics and Finance, Bristol Business School, University of the West of England, Bristol.
    13. Gail Pacheco & Don J. Webber, 2011. "Employment propensity: The roles of mental and physical health," Working Papers 2011-01, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    14. Whitehead, Brenda R. & Bergeman, C.S., 2016. "Affective health bias in older adults: Considering positive and negative affect in a general health context," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 28-35.
    15. MacLean, Alice & Sweeting, Helen & Hunt, Kate, 2010. "'Rules' for boys, 'guidelines' for girls: Gender differences in symptom reporting during childhood and adolescence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(4), pages 597-604, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0074814. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.