Prevalence of persons contacting general practice for psychological stress in Denmark

Jesper Lykkegaard,Marianne Rosendal,Karen Brask,Lars Brandt,Anders Prior

doi:10.1080/02813432.2018.1499494

Abstract

Objective: The prevalence of psychological stress has previously been estimated based on self-reported questionnaires. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of persons who contact the general practitioner (GP) for psychological stress and to explore associations between psychological stress and characteristics relating to the patient, the GP, and area-specific socioeconomic factors.Design: Cross-sectional computer assisted journal audit.Setting: General practice in the Region of Southern Denmark.Subjects: Patients aged 18–65 years with a consultation during a six-month period that was classified with a stress-related diagnosis code.Main outcome measures: Six months prevalence of GP-assessed psychological stress and characteristics relating to the patient, the GP, and area-specific socioeconomic factors.Results: Fifty-six GPs (7% of the invited) identified 1066 patients considered to have psychological stress among 51,422 listed patients. Accordingly, a 2.1% six months prevalence of psychological stress was estimated; 69% of cases were women. High prevalence of psychological stress was associated with female sex, age 35–54 years, high education level and low population density in the municipality, but not with unemployment in the municipality or household income in the postal district. GP female sex and age <50 years, few GPs in the practice and few patients per GP were also associated with a higher prevalence of psychological stress.Conclusions: A total of 2% of the working-age population contacted the GP during a six-month period for psychological stress. The prevalence of psychological stress varies with age, sex and characteristics of both the regional area and the GP.Key points Psychological stress is a leading cause of days on sick leave, but its prevalence has been based on population surveys rather than on assessment by health care professionals. • This study found that during six months 2.1% of all working-age persons have at least one contact with the GP regarding psychological stress. • The six months prevalence of psychological stress was associated with patient age and sex, GP age and sex, practices’ number of GPs and patients per GP, and area education and urbanization level.

Highlights

Psychological stress is a common condition and most likely a frequent reason for consulting the general practitioner (GP) [1]
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of persons who contact the GP for psychological stress and to explore associations between psychological stress and characteristics relating to patient, GP and area-specific socioeconomic factors
One practice with three GPs was excluded as an outlier because it identified more than twice as many patients as the practice with the second highest prevalence of psychological stress

Summary

Introduction

Psychological stress is a common condition and most likely a frequent reason for consulting the general practitioner (GP) [1]. In western countries, it is reported as one of the conditions causing the highest number of days on sick leave [2,3,4,5]. The severity of the condition mirrors in its association with adverse outcomes such as development of chronic diseases [6,7,8] and increased mortality [9]. There is a general lack of studies investigating the prevalence of persons

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Results

Discussion

Conclusion