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Petrazzuoli F, Vinker S, Palmqvist S, Midlöv P, Lepeleire JD, Pirani A, Frese T, Buono N, Ahrensberg J, Asenova R, Boreu QF, Peker GC, Collins C, Hanževački M, Hoffmann K, Iftode C, Koskela TH, Kurpas D, Reste JYL, Lichtwarck B, Petek D, Schrans D, Soler JK, Streit S, Tatsioni A, Torzsa P, Unalan PC, van Marwijk H, Thulesius H. Unburdening dementia - a basic social process grounded theory based on a primary care physician survey from 25 countries. Scand J Prim Health Care 2020; 38:253-264. [PMID: 32720874 PMCID: PMC7470166 DOI: 10.1080/02813432.2020.1794166] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To explore dementia management from a primary care physician perspective. DESIGN One-page seven-item multiple choice questionnaire; free text space for every item; final narrative question of a dementia case story. Inductive explorative grounded theory analysis. Derived results in cluster analyses. Appropriateness of dementia drugs assessed by tertiary care specialist. SETTING Twenty-five European General Practice Research Network member countries. SUBJECTS Four hundred and forty-five key informant primary care physician respondents of which 106 presented 155 case stories. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Processes and typologies of dementia management. Proportion of case stories with drug treatment and treatment according to guidelines. RESULTS Unburdening dementia - a basic social process - explained physicians' dementia management according to a grounded theory analysis using both qualitative and quantitative data. Unburdening starts with Recognizing the dementia burden by Burden Identification and Burden Assessment followed by Burden Relief. Drugs to relieve the dementia burden were reported for 130 of 155 patients; acetylcholinesterase inhibitors or memantine treatment in 89 of 155 patients - 60% appropriate according to guidelines and 40% outside of guidelines. More Central and Northern primary care physicians were allowed to prescribe, and more were engaged in dementia management than Eastern and Mediterranean physicians according to cluster analyses. Physicians typically identified and assessed the dementia burden and then tried to relieve it, commonly by drug prescriptions, but also by community health and home help services, mentioned in more than half of the case stories. CONCLUSIONS Primary care physician dementia management was explained by an Unburdening process with the goal to relieve the dementia burden, mainly by drugs often prescribed outside of guideline indications. Implications: Unique data about dementia management by European primary care physicians to inform appropriate stakeholders. Key points Dementia as a syndrome of cognitive and functional decline and behavioural and psychological symptoms causes a tremendous burden on patients, their families, and society. •We found that a basic social process of Unburdening dementia explained dementia management according to case stories and survey comments from primary care physicians in 25 countries. •First, Burden Recognition by Identification and Assessment and then Burden Relief - often by drugs. •Prescribing physicians repeatedly broadened guideline indications for dementia drugs. The more physicians were allowed to prescribe dementia drugs, the more they were responsible for the dementia work-up. Our study provides unique data about dementia management in European primary care for the benefit of national and international stakeholders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ferdinando Petrazzuoli
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- CONTACT Ferdinando Petrazzuoli Center for Primary Health Care Research, Clinical Research Center, Lund University, Box 50332, Malmö202 13, Sweden
| | - Shlomo Vinker
- Department of Family Medicine, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Sebastian Palmqvist
- Clinical Memory Research Unit, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Sweden
| | - Patrik Midlöv
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
| | - Jan De Lepeleire
- Department of Public Health and Primary Care, General Practice, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
| | - Alessandro Pirani
- Family and Nursing Home Practice – Memory Clinic, Alzheimer’s Association “Francesco Mazzucca” Onlus, Ferrara, Italy
| | - Thomas Frese
- Institute of General Practice and Family Medicine, Medical Faculty, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/Saale, Germany
| | - Nicola Buono
- SNAMID (National Society of Medical Education in General Practice), Caserta, Italy
| | - Jette Ahrensberg
- Research Center for Emergency Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Radost Asenova
- Department of Urology and General Medicine, Medical University of Plovdiv, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
| | - Quintí Foguet Boreu
- Institut Universitari d’Investigació en Atenció Primària- IDIAP Jordi Gol, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Gülsen Ceyhun Peker
- Department of Family Medicine, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
| | | | | | - Kathryn Hoffmann
- Department of General Practice and Family Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | | | - Donata Kurpas
- Family Medicine Department, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Jean Yves Le Reste
- EA 7479 SPURBO. Department of General Practice, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France
| | - Bjørn Lichtwarck
- The Research Centre for Age-related Functional Decline and Disease, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Ottestad, Norway
| | - Davorina Petek
- Department of Family medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Diego Schrans
- Department of Family Medicine and Primary, Health Care Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Sven Streit
- Institute of Primary Health Care (BIHAM), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Athina Tatsioni
- Department of Internal Medicine, General Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ioannina School of Health Sciences, Ioannina, Greece
| | - Péter Torzsa
- Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Pemra C. Unalan
- Department of Family Medicine, Marmara University Medical Faculty, Istanbul, Turkey
| | | | - Hans Thulesius
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden
- Department of Medicine and Optometry, Linnaeus University, Kalmar, Sweden
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