The European journal of general practice
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Heart failure (HF) diagnosis as reported in primary care medical records is not always properly confirmed and could result in over-registration. ⋯ Only in half of the patients labelled as HF in primary care medical records could this diagnosis be further confirmed. Variables regularly registered in clinical practice could help general practitioners identify those patients requiring a revision of their HF diagnosis.
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Multi-morbidity and polypharmacy of the elderly population enhances the probability of elderly in residential long-term care facilities experiencing inappropriate medication use. ⋯ Beers criteria of 2003 and STOPP were most frequently used to determine inappropriate medication use in residential long-term care facilities. Prevalence of inappropriate medication use strongly varied, despite similarities in research design and assessment with identical instrument(s).
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Prevention is viewed as a key issue for general practice, yet there is a lack of evidence regarding general practitioners' interventions in both middle-aged and elderly people. This is despite the fact that recommendations and key indicators for monitoring the use of clinical preventive strategies aimed at these groups are available and that both the World Health Organization and European Commission endorse the importance of interventions for healthy and active ageing. ⋯ According to the EU2020 strategy, general practitioners should design and implement prevention services and programmes to promote healthy and active ageing. Their primary focus should be on interventions on multimorbid patients, either by improving prescribing and adherence to medical plans or by targeting to fall and frailty prevention and vaccination uptake.
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Cancer screening participation rates in Germany differ depending on patients' gender. International studies have found that patient-physician gender concordance fosters recommendation and conducting of cancer screening, and especially cancer screening for women. ⋯ Patient-physician gender concordance made it more likely that male-specific cancer screenings would be recommended and conducted, but not female-specific screenings. [Box: see text].