HKCFP-HKU Primary Care Morbidity Survey in Hong Kong

Background:

Information about the health problems of patients presenting in primary care is crucial to understanding the health of the general community for the planning and allocation of health care resources. Practice-based morbidity studies conducted in primary care settings have proven to be helpful in documentation of disease prevalence and for service planning. With the change in morbidity pattern and the aging population, our study will help to inform primary health care policy and guide work force and service planning.

Method:

This is a prospective practice-based study of health problems presenting in primary care. Doctors who agree to participate in the study will record the health problem and type of management performed in consecutive patient encounters for one of the designated weeks during each season over the course of one year.

Analysis:

Data collected will be analysed by descriptive statistics, comparison with data from previous morbidity study, and by non-linear mixed effects for factors associated with morbidity and management patterns in primary care.

Results:

Findings will will 1) provide evidence to support the allocation of resources to continue and to expand primary care initiatives that support the provision of quality chronic disease care in private sector, 2) enable continued surveillance of the morbidity trends in Hong Kong by providing data for comparison with past and future studies, and 3) inform the content of educational curricula for medical and health care students and practitioners to prepare them to better meet the needs of the community.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Primary Health Care
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: No intervention involved

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 49

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Hong Kong
  • Hong Kong, Hong Kong
    • Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Hong Kong

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: ADULT; OLDER_ADULT; CHILD
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Primary care doctors in Hong Kong who are working in the public sector (GOPC), Department of Health Clinic, private solo practices, university health services, non-profit organizations and private hospital family medicine clinics

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Consented primary care doctors in Hong Kong who are working in:
• the public sector (GOPC), or
• Department of Health Clinic, or
• private solo or group practices, or
• university health services, or
• non-profit organizations, or
• private hospital family medicine clinics

Exclusion Criteria:

• Doctors who do not consent
• Doctors who are not working as primary care doctors

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Prevalence of health problems and diseases presenting in primary care	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months
Rates of management activities including referral, investigation, prescription and preventive care intervention by primary care doctors	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months
Distribution of health problems and diseases presenting in the public compared with the private primary care setting	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months
Factors which affect the proportion and distribution of health problems in the public sector compared with the private sector	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Time Frame
Prescription rates of specific classes of drugs including benzodiazepines, antidepressants, NSAIDs, and antibiotics	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months
Seasonal variation in primary care morbidity pattern	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months
Relationship between patient's presenting problem and doctor's diagnosis	immediately after completion of data collection, up to 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Julie Y Chen, MD, Department of Family Medicine and Primary Care, University of Hong Kong

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Chen JY, Chao D, Wong SY, Tse TYE, Wan EYF, Tsang JPY, Leung MKW, Ko W, Li YC, Chen C, Luk W, Dao MC, Wong M, Leung WM, Lam CLK. Morbidity Patterns in Primary Care in Hong Kong: Protocol for a Practice-Based Morbidity Survey. JMIR Res Protoc. 2022 Jun 22;11(6):e37334. doi: 10.2196/37334.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (ACTUAL): March 7, 2021
• Primary Completion (ACTUAL): August 31, 2022
• Study Completion (ACTUAL): August 31, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: January 26, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 1, 2021
• First Posted (ACTUAL): February 3, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (ACTUAL): November 2, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 31, 2022
• Last Verified: October 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Other Study ID Numbers: HKUCTR-2916

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: There is not a plan to make IPD available.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No