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General practice patients treated for substance use problems: a cross-national observational study in Belgium

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Public Health, December 2016
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Title
General practice patients treated for substance use problems: a cross-national observational study in Belgium
Published in
BMC Public Health, December 2016
DOI 10.1186/s12889-016-3885-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Nicole Boffin, Jerome Antoine, Sarah Moreels, Simeon Wanyama, Karin De Ridder, Lieve Peremans, Marc Vanmeerbeek, Viviane Van Casteren

Abstract

General Practitioners (GPs) are well placed to care for patients with (chronic) substance use problems. This pilot was carried out to study the feasibility and usefulness of a continuous surveillance of substance use problems among general practice patients. The objectives were (i) to describe variables with missing values exceeding 1% and whether patients were reported without substance-related problems; (ii) the profile and the magnitude of the patient population that is treated for substance use problems. Observational study by the Belgian Network of Sentinel General Practices (SGP) in 2013. Baseline (at the first encounter) and 7-month follow-up data were reported of all patients treated for substance use problems. Two main measurements were type of substance use and patient status at follow-up. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to examine patient status at follow-up. Of 479 patients, 47.2% had problems with alcohol alone, 20.3% with prescription drugs, 16.7% with illicit drugs other than heroin or methadone and 15.9% with heroin or methadone. Problems with alcohol alone were more prevalent in Flanders (53.0%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 46.8-59.1%) than in Wallonia-Brussels (39.8%; 95% CI 33.1-46.8%), while problems with heroin or methadone were more prevalent in Wallonia-Brussels (27.0%; 95% CI 21.1-33.5%) than in Flanders (7.1%; 95% CI 4.3-10.9%). At follow-up, 32.8% of the patients had dropped out, 29.0% had discontinued GP treatment and 38.2% had continued GP treatment. Overall, 32.4% of 479 patients had continued GP treatment for substance use problems during the study period. In Wallonia-Brussels, this proportion was higher (42.7%; 95% CI 35.9-49.6%) than in Flanders (24.3%; 95% CI 19.2-29.8%). A continuous surveillance of the general practice population treated for substance use problems seems to be feasible and useful. The latter is suggested by the specific profile and the relative magnitude of the population. Inter-regional health system differences should be taken into account to estimate the epidemiology of substance use problems among general practice patients.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 18 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 18 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 3 17%
Student > Master 3 17%
Researcher 2 11%
Student > Ph. D. Student 2 11%
Unknown 8 44%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 4 22%
Nursing and Health Professions 3 17%
Psychology 2 11%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 6%
Unknown 8 44%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 10 January 2017.
All research outputs
#20,382,391
of 22,931,367 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#13,971
of 14,946 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#353,961
of 419,893 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#186
of 193 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,931,367 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
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