Musculoskeletal Matters 2: Consultations for Selected Diagnoses & Regional

MUSCULOSKELETAL
A r t h r i t i s R e s e a rc h U K N a t i o n a
Bulletin 2:
l Prim
MATTERS
a r y Ca
i
re Centre, Keele Univers
ty
CONSULTATIONS FOR SELECTED
DIAGNOSES AND REGIONAL PROBLEMS
The Typical General Practice
• We have created The Typical General Practice from the combined details of 12
practices which contribute to our Keele GP Research Partnership.
• The Practice has 10,000 registered patients. 1,600 (16%) are aged 0–14, 4,600
(46%) are aged 15–49 and 3,800 (38%) are aged 50 and over.
• Musculoskeletal problems made up 12% of all consultations with a diagnosis.
Selected Diagnoses
• We have determined how many patients were recorded in a consultation
as having selected diagnoses during one year. These could be fi rst, new or
ongoing episodes.
• In the course of one year, osteoarthritis was recorded for 180 patients (2% of
registered patients)
– 170 of these patients were aged 50 and over (4% of registered patients
aged 50 plus consulted for osteoarthritis)
– There were 300 consultations in total for osteoarthritis, 5% of all
musculoskeletal consultations.
• During the year, also recorded were:
Gout: 40 patients
Polymyalgia rheumatica: 20 patients
Osteoporosis: 35 patients
Psoriatic arthritis: 4 patients
Rheumatoid arthritis: 25 patients Ankylosing spondylitis: 3 patients
Systemic lupus erythematosus: 2 patients
These bulletins are
designed to provide
information for general
practitioners, the primary
care team, teachers,
trainers and policy makers
about musculoskeletal
problems in practice
175
150
Age 15-49
125
Age 50+
100
75
50
25
0
Osteoarthritis
Gout
Osteoporosis
Rheumatoid
arthritis
Polymyalgia
rheumatica
Psoriatic
arthritis
Ankylosing
spondylitis
Systemic lupus
erythematosus
Figure 1 – Number of adult patients consulting in 1 year by condition in a practice of 10,000
March 2010