Abstract
Family medicine is a major source of information about health problems and their variation. For most illnesses the general practitioner is the first point of contact in the health care system and he looks after a population whose age and sex composition is known. He is therefore in an ideal position to conduct inquiries about seasonal variations of diseases. There are diseases where possible patterns of seasonal variation have been established: psychiatric disorders, allergies, heart disease, etc. It has long been accepted that morbidity patterns in general practice vary seasonally, which mainly depends on the acute pathology of infectious origin. In addition, it can be affirmed that respiratory infections represent the most important percentage of infections. So, seasonal variability of diseases in family medicine can be attributed to the variability of respiratory infections. Infectious disease dynamics offer a wide variety of intriguing and unexplained phenomena. There is a gap in how diverse studies encompassing immunology, mathematics, epidemiology, and virology combine to form a complete picture of seasonality. This may be due to the daunting complexity of seasonality itself, which is likely to reflect the actions of a vast multitude of variables. An understanding of what drives seasonal trends may allow: 1) better understanding of transmission dynamics, leading to better methods of prevention, health education, triage, diagnosis and management; 2) generate causal and risk factor hypotheses; 3) awareness of risks and surveillance systems; 4) monitoring the effects of intervention studies such as immunization programs; 5) identifying the specific environmental and socioeconomic factors underlying seasonal transmission; 6) better Interpretation of prevalence or incidence studies; And 7) redistribution of resources for the care of the demand in family medicine and health care system.
Highlights
Medicine is a major source of information about community health problems Primary care is a major source of information on health problems and their variation, which is of great importance in the evaluation of the health of the population, determination of health policies, and measurement of workloads of health professionals, identification of Public Health interventions and resource allocation decisions, and curricular contents of pre and postgraduate physicians and nurses
There is a gap in how diverse studies encompassing immunology, mathematics, epidemiology, and virology combine to form a complete picture of seasonality
This may be due to the daunting complexity of seasonality itself, which is likely to reflect the actions of a vast multitude of variables
Summary
Medicine is a major source of information about community health problems Primary care is a major source of information on health problems and their variation, which is of great importance in the evaluation of the health of the population, determination of health policies, and measurement of workloads of health professionals, identification of Public Health interventions and resource allocation decisions, and curricular contents of pre and postgraduate physicians and nurses. The study of this phenomenon has enough interest to know the environmental or personal factors that influence, or the variation in exposure to infectious agents due to the natural life cycle of the infectious agent, or changes in the opportunity for exposure, or variations in habits, such as diet, or variations in exposure to allergens or other environmental factors, or the possible Influence of sunlight, cold or heat, humidity, barometric pressure, exercise or physical inactivity in winter versus summer, environmental pollution, the winter rains and the high temperatures that advance spring allergies To pollen, etc All of these are factors that are likely to be able to act on seasonal variations of diseases, as well as on morbidity which is attended in general practice and health care system, and it forces to adapting the services to the variability of demand. Diseases such as psychiatric disorders (depression, mania, schizophrenia, suicide), ulcerative colitis, respiratory diseases, infectious diseases, allergies, births, sudden infant death, heart disease, etc., have been studied (Table 1) [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
