The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Acne is a common skin condition, affecting most adolescents at some point. While guidelines recommend topical treatments first-line, long courses of oral antibiotics are commonly prescribed. ⋯ GPs expressed uncertainty about the use of topical treatments for acne and either felt that treatments were of low effectiveness or perceived pressure from patients to prescribe oral antibiotics.
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Observational Study
Primary care consultation length by deprivation and multimorbidity in England: an observational study using electronic patient records.
Longer GP consultations are recommended as one way of improving care for people with multimorbidity. In Scotland, patients who are multimorbid and living in deprived areas do not have longer consultations, although their counterparts in the least deprived areas do. This example of the inverse care law has not been examined in England. ⋯ GPs in England spend longer with patients who have more conditions, but, at all multimorbidity levels, those in deprived areas have less time per GP consultation. Further research is needed to assess the impact of consultation length on patient and system outcomes for those with multimorbidity.
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Lymphopenia (reduced lymphocyte count) during infections, such as pneumonia, is common and is associated with increased mortality. Little is known about the relationship between lymphocyte count before developing infections and mortality risk. ⋯ Lymphopenia is an independent predictor of mortality in primary care pneumonia. Even low-normal lymphopenia (1-2 × 109 cells/L) is associated with an increase in short- and long-term mortality compared with higher counts.