Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care utilization : evidence from Sweden using national register data
Ekman, Björn LU
; Arvidsson, Eva
; Thulesius, Hans
LU
; Wilkens, Jens
LU
and Cronberg, Olof
LU
(2021)
In BMC Research Notes
14(1).
- Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 to 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels and across types of contacts and patient groups. A specific objective was to assess the extent to which remote types of patient consultations were able to compensate for any observed fall in on-site visits. Data were stratified by sex and age to investigate any demographic pattern.
RESULTS: Findings show significant reductions in overall utilization of services as the pandemic occurred in the first quarter of 2020. On-site visits fell during the first wave of the pandemic and rebounded thereafter. Patients over 65... (More)
OBJECTIVE: To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 to 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels and across types of contacts and patient groups. A specific objective was to assess the extent to which remote types of patient consultations were able to compensate for any observed fall in on-site visits. Data were stratified by sex and age to investigate any demographic pattern.
RESULTS: Findings show significant reductions in overall utilization of services as the pandemic occurred in the first quarter of 2020. On-site visits fell during the first wave of the pandemic and rebounded thereafter. Patients over 65 years of age appear to have reduced utilization to a larger extent compared with younger groups. Simultaneously, remote contacts increased from around 12% before the pandemic to 17% of the total number of consultations. However, the net effect of changes in service utilization suggests an overall reduction of around 12 percent in the number of primary care consultations as a result of the pandemic. No differences between men and women were observed. Further research will continue to monitor changes in primary care utilization as the pandemic continues.
(Less)
- author
- Ekman, Björn
LU
; Arvidsson, Eva
; Thulesius, Hans
LU
; Wilkens, Jens
LU
and Cronberg, Olof
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-11-24
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- BMC Research Notes
- volume
- 14
- issue
- 1
- article number
- 424
- publisher
- BioMed Central (BMC)
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34819161
- scopus:85119959593
- ISSN
- 1756-0500
- DOI
- 10.1186/s13104-021-05839-7
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- © 2021. The Author(s).
- id
- 69ff4e7a-8a04-4dca-a516-1baac38ab5a5
- date added to LUP
- 2021-11-26 14:01:02
- date last changed
- 2025-10-21 04:06:11
@article{69ff4e7a-8a04-4dca-a516-1baac38ab5a5,
abstract = {{<p>OBJECTIVE: To analyze changes in primary care utilization as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Swedish national register data from 2019 to 2020 on utilization of services were used to compare overall utilization levels and across types of contacts and patient groups. A specific objective was to assess the extent to which remote types of patient consultations were able to compensate for any observed fall in on-site visits. Data were stratified by sex and age to investigate any demographic pattern.</p><p>RESULTS: Findings show significant reductions in overall utilization of services as the pandemic occurred in the first quarter of 2020. On-site visits fell during the first wave of the pandemic and rebounded thereafter. Patients over 65 years of age appear to have reduced utilization to a larger extent compared with younger groups. Simultaneously, remote contacts increased from around 12% before the pandemic to 17% of the total number of consultations. However, the net effect of changes in service utilization suggests an overall reduction of around 12 percent in the number of primary care consultations as a result of the pandemic. No differences between men and women were observed. Further research will continue to monitor changes in primary care utilization as the pandemic continues.</p>}},
author = {{Ekman, Björn and Arvidsson, Eva and Thulesius, Hans and Wilkens, Jens and Cronberg, Olof}},
issn = {{1756-0500}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{11}},
number = {{1}},
publisher = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
series = {{BMC Research Notes}},
title = {{Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on primary care utilization : evidence from Sweden using national register data}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13104-021-05839-7}},
doi = {{10.1186/s13104-021-05839-7}},
volume = {{14}},
year = {{2021}},
}