Associations between untreated depression and secondary health care utilization in patients with hypertension and/or diabetes.

PURPOSE: We determined the prevalence of untreated depression in patients with hypertension (HT) and/or diabetes (DM) and estimated the extra health care use and expenditures associated with this comorbidity in a rural Hungarian adult population. We also assessed the potential workload of systematic screening for depression in this patient group. METHODS: General health check database from a primary care programme containing survey data of 2027 patients with HT and/or DM was linked to the outpatient secondary care use database of National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management. Depression was ascertained by Beck Depression Inventory score and antidepressant drug use. The association between untreated depression and secondary healthcare utilization indicated by number of visits and expenses was evaluated by multiple logistic regression analysis controlled for socioeconomic/lifestyle factors and comorbidity. The age-, sex- and education-specific observations were used to estimate the screening workload for an average general medical practice. RESULTS: The frequency of untreated depression was 27.08%. The untreated severe depression (7.45%) was associated with increased number of visits (OR 1.60, 95% CI 1.11-2.31) and related expenses (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.50-3.22) in a socioeconomic status-independent manner. To identify untreated depression cases among patients with HT and/or DM, an average GP has to screen 42 subjects a month. CONCLUSION: It seems to be reasonable and feasible to screen for depression in patients with HT and/or DM in the primary care, in order to detect cases without treatment (which may be associated with increase of secondary care visits and expenditures) and to initiate the adequate treatment of them.

Delivery of cardio-metabolic preventive services to Hungarian Roma of different socio-economic strata.

BACKGROUND: Because the cardiovascular mortality in Hungary is high, particularly among the socio-economically deprived and the Roma, it is implied that primary health care (PHC) has a limited ability to exploit the opportunities of evidence-based preventions, and it may contribute to social health inequalities. OBJECTIVES: Our study investigated the underuse of PHC preventive services. METHODS: Random samples of adults aged 21-64 years free of hypertension and diabetes mellitus were surveyed with participation rate of 97.7% in a cross-sectional study. Data from 2199 adults were collected on socio-demographic status, ethnicity, lifestyle and history of cardio-metabolic preventive service use. Delivery rates were calculated for those aged 21-44 years and those aged 45-64 years, and the influence of socio-demographic variables was determined using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Delivery rates varied between 12.79% and 99.06%, and the majority was far from 100%. Although most preventive service use was independent of education, younger participants with vocational educations underutilized problematic drinking (P = 0.011) and smoking (P = 0.027) assessments, and primary or less educated underutilized blood glucose (P = 0.001) and serum cholesterol (P = 0.005) checks. Health care measures of each lifestyle assessment (P nutrition = 0.032; P smoking = 0.021; P alcohol = 0.029) and waist circumference measurement (P = 0.047) were much less frequently used among older Roma. The blood glucose check (P = 0.001) and family history assessment (P = 0.043) were less utilized among Roma. CONCLUSIONS: The Hungarian PHC underutilizes the cardio-metabolic prevention contributing to the avoidable mortality, not generating considerably health inequalities by level of education, but contributing to the bad health status among the Roma.

Relationships between the Structural Characteristics of General Medical Practices and the Socioeconomic Status of Patients with Diabetes-Related Performance Indicators in Primary Care.

The implementation of monitoring for general medical practice (GMP) can contribute to improving the quality of diabetes mellitus (DM) care. Our study aimed to describe the associations of DM care performance indicators with the structural characteristics of GMPs and the socioeconomic status (SES) of patients. Using data from 2018 covering the whole country, GMP-specific indicators standardized by patient age, sex, and eligibility for exemption certificates were computed for adults. Linear regression models were applied to evaluate the relationships between GMP-specific parameters (list size, residence type, geographical location, general practitioner (GP) vacancy and their age) and patient SES (education, employment, proportion of Roma adults, housing density) and DM care indicators. Patients received 58.64% of the required medical interventions. A lower level of education (hemoglobin A1c test: ß = -0.108; ophthalmic examination: ß = -0.100; serum creatinine test: ß = -0.103; and serum lipid status test: ß = -0.108) and large GMP size (hemoglobin A1c test: ß = -0.068; ophthalmological examination ß = -0.031; serum creatinine measurement ß = -0.053; influenza immunization ß = -0.040; and serum lipid status test ß = -0.068) were associated with poor indicators. A GP age older than 65 years was associated with lower indicators (hemoglobin A1c test: ß = -0.082; serum creatinine measurement: ß = -0.086; serum lipid status test: ß = -0.082; and influenza immunization: ß = -0.032). Overall, the GMP-level DM care indicators were significantly influenced by GMP characteristics and patient SES. Therefore, proper diabetes care monitoring for the personal achievements of GPs should involve the application of adjusted performance indicators.

Cross-sectional comparison of health care delivery and reimbursement between segregated and nonsegregated communities in Hungary.

Introduction: Spatially segregated, socio-economically deprived communities in Europe are at risk of being neglected in terms of health care. In Hungary, poor monitoring systems and poor knowledge on the health status of people in these segregated areas prevent the development of well-informed effective interventions for these vulnerable communities. Aims: We used data available from National Health Insurance Fund Management to better describe health care performance in segregated communities and to develop more robust monitoring systems. Methods: A cross-sectional study using 2020 health care data was conducted on each general medical practice (GMP) in Hungary providing care to both segregated and nonsegregated (complementary) adult patients. Segregated areas were mapped and ascertained by a governmental decree that defines them as within settlement clusters of adults with low level of education and income. Age, sex, and eligibility for exemption certificate standardized indicators for health care delivery, reimbursement, and premature mortality were computed for segregated and nonsegregated groups of adults and aggregated at the country level. The ratio of segregation and nonsegregation specific indicators (relative risk, RR) was computed with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: Broad variations between GMPs were detected for each indicator. Segregated groups had a significantly higher rate of health care service use than complementary groups (RR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.219;1.223) while suffering from significantly reduced health care reimbursement (RR = 0.940, 95% CI: 0.929;0.951). The risk of premature mortality was significantly higher among segregated patients (RR = 1.184, 95% CI: 1.087;1.289). Altogether, living in a segregated area led to an increase in visits to health care services by 18.1% with 6.6% less health spending. Conclusion: Adults living in segregated areas use health care services more frequently than those living in nonsegregated areas; however, the amount of health care reimbursement they receive is significantly lower, suggesting lower quality of care. The health status of segregated adults is remarkably lower, as evidenced by their higher premature mortality rate. These findings demonstrate the need for intervention in this vulnerable group. Because our study reveals serious variation across GMPs, segregation-specific monitoring is necessary to support programs sensitive to local issues and establish necessary benchmarks.

Effectiveness of and Inequalities in COVID-19 Epidemic Control Strategies in Hungary: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

INTRODUCTION: Before the mass vaccination, epidemiological control measures were the only means of containing the COVID-19 epidemic. Their effectiveness determined the consequences of the COVID-19 epidemic. Our study evaluated the impact of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical factors on patient-reported epidemiological control measures. METHODS: A nationwide representative sample of 1008 randomly selected adults were interviewed in person between 15 March and 30 May 2021. The prevalence of test-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was 12.1%, of testing was 33.7%, and of contact tracing among test-confirmed infected subjects was 67.9%. The vaccination coverage was 52.4%. RESULTS: According to the multivariable logistic regression models, the occurrence of infection was not influenced by sociodemographic and lifestyle factors or by the presence of chronic disease. Testing was more frequent among middle-aged adults (aOR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.10-2.13) and employed adults (aOR = 2.06, 95% CI 1.42-3.00), and was more frequent among adults with a higher education (aORsecondary = 1.93, 95% CI 1.20-3.13; aORtertiary = 3.19, 95% CI 1.81-5.63). Contact tracing was more frequently implemented among middle-aged (aOR41-7y = 3.33, 95% CI 1.17-9.45) and employed (aOR = 4.58, 95% CI 1.38-15.22), and those with chronic diseases (aOR = 5.92, 95% CI 1.56-22.47). Positive correlation was observed between age groups and vaccination frequency (aOR41-70y = 2.94, 95% CI 2.09-4.15; aOR71+y = 14.52, 95% CI 7.33-28.77). Higher than primary education (aORsecondary = 1.69, 95% CI 1.08-2.63; aORtertiary = 4.36, 95% CI 2.46-7.73) and the presence of a chronic disease (aOR = 2.58, 95% CI 1.75-3.80) positively impacted vaccination. Regular smoking was inversely correlated with vaccination (aOR = 0.60; 95% CI 0.44-0.83). CONCLUSIONS: The survey indicated that testing, contact tracing, and vaccination were seriously influenced by socioeconomic position; less so by chronic disease prevalence and very minimally by lifestyle. The etiological role of socioeconomic inequalities in epidemic measure implementation likely generated socioeconomic inequality in COVID-19-related complication and death rates.

Screening for Patients with Visual Acuity Loss in Primary Health Care: A Cross Sectional Study in a Deprived Hungarian Population.

Screening for visual acuity loss (VAL) is not applied systematically because of uncertain recommendations based on observations from affordable countries. Our study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of primary health care-based screening. A cross-sectional investigation was carried out among adults who did not wear glasses and did not visit an ophthalmologist in a year (N = 2070). The risk factor role of sociodemographic factors and the cardiometabolic status for hidden VAL was determined by multivariable linear regression models. The prevalence of unknown VAL of at least 0.5 was 3.7% and 9.1% in adults and in the above-65 population. Female sex (b = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.35; 2.18), age (b = 0.15, 0.12; 0.19), and Roma ethnicity (b = 2.60, 95% CI: 1.22; 3.97) were significant risk factors. Higher than primary school (bsecondaryschoolwithoutgraduation = -2.06, 95% CI: -3.64; -0.47; and bsecondaryschoolwithgraduation = -2.08, 95% CI: -3.65; -0.51), employment (b = -1.33, 95% CI: -2.25; 0.40), and properly treated diabetes mellitus (b = -2.84, 95% CI: -5.08; -0.60) were protective factors. Above 65 years, female sex (b = 3.85, 95% CI: 0.50; 7.20), age (b = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.10; 0.67), Roma ethnicity (b = 24.79, 95% CI: 13.83; 35.76), and untreated diabetes (b = 7.30, 95% CI: 1.29; 13.31) were associated with VAL. Considering the huge differences between the health care and the population's social status of the recommendation-establishing countries and Hungary which represent non-high-income countries, the uncertain recommendation of VAL screening should not discourage general practitioners from organizing population-based screening for VAL in non-affordable populations.

Effectiveness of COVID-19 Vaccination in Preventing All-Cause Mortality among Adults during the Third Wave of the Epidemic in Hungary: Nationwide Retrospective Cohort Study.

Our investigation aimed to describe the all-cause mortality rates by COVID-19 vaccination groups in Hungary for an epidemic period (1 April 2021−20 June 2021) and a nonepidemic period (21 June 2021−15 August 2021), and to determine the vaccines' effectiveness in preventing all-cause mortality utilizing nonepidemic effectiveness measures to adjust for the healthy vaccinee effect (HVE). Sociodemographic status, comorbidity, primary care structural characteristics, and HVE-adjusted survival difference between fully vaccinated and unvaccinated cohorts in the epidemic period had been computed by Cox regression models, separately for each vaccine (six vaccines were available in Hungary). Hazard ratio (HR) reduction in epidemic period corrected with nonepidemic period's HR with 95% confidence interval for each vaccine was used to describe the vaccine effectiveness (VE). The whole adult population (N = 6,404,702) of the country was followed in this study (4,026,849 fully vaccinated). Each vaccine could reduce the HVE-corrected all-cause mortality in the epidemic period (VEOxford/AstraZeneca = 0.592 [0.518−0.655], VEJanssen = 0.754 [0.628−0.838], VEModerna = 0.573 [0.526−0.615], VEPfizer-BioNTech = 0.487 [0.461−0.513], VESinopharm = 0.530 [0.496−0.561], and VESputnik V = 0.557 [0.493−0.614]). The HVE-corrected general mortality for COVID-19 vaccine cohorts demonstrated the real-life effectiveness of vaccines applied in Hungary, and the usefulness of this indicator to convince vaccine hesitants.

Improvement in Quality of Care for Patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Hungary Between 2008 and 2016: Results from Two Population-Based Representative Surveys.

INTRODUCTION: Due to the increasing trends of recent decades, diabetes prevalence has reached a frequency of 1/11 adults worldwide. However, this disadvantageous trend has not been accompanied by worsened outcome indicators; better short-term (e.g., HbA1c levels) and long-term [e.g., all-cause mortality among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients] outcomes can be observed globally. We aimed to describe changes in the effectiveness of type 2 diabetes mellitus care between 2008 and 2016 based on outcome indicators. METHODS: The study is a secondary analysis of data from two previously performed surveys. Both surveys were conducted in the framework of the General Practitioners' Morbidity Sentinel Stations Program (GPMSSP), which maintains a nationally representative registry of T2DM patients. RESULTS: The largest improvement was observed in achieving fasting blood glucose and HbA1c target values [OR = 0.67, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.56-0.80 and OR = 0.58; 95% CI, 0.48-0.70, respectively]. Moderate improvement was detected by reaching body mass index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure and total cholesterol target values (OR = 0.78, 95% CI, 0.65-0.93; OR = 0.78, 95% CI, 0.65-0.94 and OR = 0.76, 95% CI, 0.63-0.92, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrated that if standardized indicators are investigated in population-based samples, the effectiveness of T2DM care can be monitored by ad hoc surveys. The systematic application of this approach completed with the detailed documentation of the applied therapies could demonstrate the public health impact of certain modifications in T2DM care. An overall improvement in metabolic control (glycaemic control, lipid status and obesity) was observed, which was not accompanied by improved therapeutic target achievement for systolic blood pressure.

[Resource allocation effectiveness of indicator-based performance monitoring in Hungarian primary care for adults]. / Az indikátoralapú teljesítményértékelésre épülo forráselosztás hatékonysága Magyarországon a felnotteket ellátó háziorvosi praxisokban.

Introduction: The indicator-based performance monitoring and pay-for-performance system for Hungarian primary care was established in 2009, covering the whole country. It is based on a stable legal system and well operating information technology. Although, the health insurance system is able to facilitate the performance improvement only by the financing for general medical practices, the many times modified present system does not take into consideration (apart from the geographical location of practices) factors which determine the performance but cannot be influenced by general practitioners. Aim: The study aimed at renewing the indicator set and evaluation methodology in order to enable the monitoring to evaluate the performance of general medical practices independent of their structural characteristics. Method: Each adult care specific primary care performance indicator from June 2016 covering the whole country has been investigated. Indicators adjusted for structural practice characteristics (age and gender of patients; relative education of people provided; settlement type and county of the practice) have been computed. The difference between adjusted indicators and national reference values has been evaluated by statistical testing. Appropriateness of the present monitoring and financing system has been investigated by comparing the practice level presently applied and adjusted indicators to outline the opportunities to develop the present system. Results: The present monitoring allocates 34.46% of pay-for-performance resources for improving the performance of practices. The majority of resources supports the conservation of performance. Furthermore, the present system is not able to identify each practice with better than reference performance, withholding amount corresponding to 8.83% of pay-for-performance resources. If this financing were restricted to practices with significantly better than reference performance, the maximum of the financing a month in a practice would increase from 176 042 HUF (551 EURO) to 406 604 HUF (1274 EURO). Conclusion: Completing the performance monitoring system operated at present by the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary with indicators adjusted for structural characteristics of the general medical practices, the resource allocation effectiveness could be improved. Orv Hetil. 2019; 160(39): 1542-1553.

The impact of general practitioners' gender on process indicators in Hungarian primary healthcare: a nation-wide cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of our study were (1) to investigate the association between gender of the general practitioner (GP) and the quality of primary care in Hungary with respect to process indicators for GP performance and (2) to assess the size of the gender impact. STUDY DESIGN: A nation-wide cross-sectional study was performed in 2016. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study covered all general medical practices in Hungary (n=4575) responsible for the provision of primary healthcare (PHC) for adults. All GPs in their private practices are solo practitioners. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multilevel logistic regression models were used to analyse the association between GP gender and process indicators of PHC, and attributable proportion (AP) was calculated. RESULTS: 48% of the GPs (n=2213) were women in the study. The crude rates of care provided by female GPs were significantly higher for seven out of eight evaluated indicators than those provided by male GPs. Adjusted for practice, physician and patient factors, GP gender was associated with the haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) measurement: OR=1.18, 95% CI (1.14 to 1.23); serum creatinine measurement: OR=1.14, 95% CI (1.12 to 1.17); lipid measurement: OR=1.14, 95% CI (1.11 to 1.16); eye examination: OR=1.06, 95% CI (1.03 to 1.08); mammography screening: OR=1.05, 95% CI (1.03 to 1.08); management of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: OR=1.05, 95% CI (1.01 to 1.09) and the composite indicator: OR=1.08, 95% CI (1.07 to 1.1), which summarises the number of care events and size of target populations of each indicator. The AP at the specific indicators varied from 0.97% (95% CI 0.49% to 1.44%) of influenza immunisation to 8.04% (95% CI 7.4% to 8.67%) of eye examinations. CONCLUSION: Female GP gender was an independent predictor of receiving higher quality of care. The actual size of the gender effect on the quality of services seemed to be notable. Factors behind the gender effect should receive more attention in quality improvement particularly in countries where the primary care is organised around solo practices.

Factors Associated with Practice-Level Performance Indicators in Primary Health Care in Hungary: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study.

The performance of general practitioners (GPs) is frequently assessed without considering the factors causing variability among general medical practices (GMPs). Our cross-sectional national-based study was performed in Hungary to evaluate the influence of GMP characteristics on performance indicators. The relationship between patient's characteristics (age, gender, education) and GMP-specific parameters (practice size, vacancy of GP's position, settlement type, and county of GMP) and the quality of care was assessed by multilevel logistic regression models. The variations attributable to physicians were small (from 0.77% to 17.95%). The education of patients was associated with 10 performance indicators. Practicing in an urban settlement mostly increased the quality of care for hypertension and diabetes care related performance indicators, while the county was identified as one of the major determinants of variability among GPs' performance. Only a few indicators were affected by the vacancy and practice size. Thus, the observed variability in performance between GPs partially arose from demographic characteristics and education of patients, settlement type, and regional location of GMPs. Considering the real effect of these factors in evaluation would reflect better the personal performance of GPs.

Prevalence of Chronic Diseases and Activity-Limiting Disability among Roma and Non-Roma People: A Cross-Sectional, Census-Based Investigation.

The lack of recommended design for Roma health-monitoring hinders the interventions to improve the health status of this ethnic minority. We aim to describe the riskiness of Roma ethnicity using census-derived data and to demonstrate the value of census for monitoring the Roma to non-Roma gap. This study investigated the self-declared occurrence of at least one chronic disease and the existence of activity limitations among subjects with chronic disease by the database of the 2011 Hungarian Census. Risks were assessed by odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) from logistic regression analyses controlled for sociodemographic factors. Roma ethnicity is a risk factor for chronic diseases (OR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.16-1.18) and for activity limitation in everyday life activities (OR = 1.20; 95% CI: 1.17-1.23), learning-working (OR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.21-1.27), family life (OR = 1.22; 95% CI: 1.16-1.28), and transport (OR = 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.06). The population-level impact of Roma ethnicity was 0.39% (95% CI: 0.37-0.41) for chronic diseases and varied between 0 and 1.19% for activity limitations. Our investigations demonstrated that (1) the Roma ethnicity is a distinct risk factor with significant population level impact for chronic disease occurrence accompanied with prognosis worsening influence, and that (2) the census can improve the Roma health-monitoring system, primarily by assessing the population level impact.

Determinants of Primary Nonadherence to Medications Prescribed by General Practitioners Among Adults in Hungary: Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Health Insurance Data.

Background: Primary nonadherence to prescribed medications occurs when patients do not fill or dispense prescriptions written by healthcare providers. Although it has become an important public health issue in recent years, little is known about its frequency, causes, and consequences. Moreover, the pattern of risk factors shows remarkable variability across countries according to the published results. Our study aimed to assess primary nonadherence to medications prescribed by general practitioners (GPs) and its associated factors among adults in Hungary for the period of 2012-2015. Methods: Data on all general medical practices (GMPs) of the country were obtained from the National Health Insurance Fund and the Central Statistical Office. The ratio of the number of dispensed medications to the number of prescriptions written by a GP for adults was used to determine the medication adherence, which was aggregated for GMPs. The effect of GMP characteristics (list size, GP vacancy, patients' education provided by a GMP, settlement type [urban or rural], and geographical location [by county] of the center) on adherence, standardized for patients' age, sex, and eligibility for an exemption certificate, were investigated through generalized linear regression modeling. Results: A total of 281,315,386 prescriptions were dispensed out of 438,614,000 written by a GP. Overall, 64.1% of prescriptions were filled. According to the generalized linear regression coefficients, there was a negative association between standardized adherence and urban settlement type (b = -0.099, 95%CI = -0.103 to -0.094), higher level of education (b = -0.440, 95%CI = -0.468 to -0.413), and vacancy of the general practices (b = -0.193, 95%CI = -0.204 to -0.182). The larger GMP size proved to be a risk factor, and there was a significant geographical inequality for counties as well. Conclusions: More than one-third of the written prescriptions of GPs for adults in Hungary were not dispensed. This high level of nonadherence had great variability across GMPs, and can be explained by structural characteristics of GMPs, the socioeconomic status of patients provided, and the quality of cooperation between patients and GPs. Moreover, our findings suggest that the use of the dispensed-to-prescribed medication ratio in routine monitoring of primary health care could effectively support the necessary interventions.

Exploring quality of care and social inequalities related to type 2 diabetes in Hungary: Nationwide representative survey.

AIMS: The study aimed to launch a T2DM adult cohort that is representative of Hungary through a cross-sectional study, to produce the most important quality indicators for T2DM care, to describe social inequalities, and to estimate the absolute number of T2DM adult patients with uncontrolled HbA1c levels in Hungary. METHODS: A representative sample of the Hungarian T2DM adults (N=1280) was selected in 2016. GPs collected data on socio-demographic status by questionnaire, and on history and laboratory parameters from medical records. The process and outcome indicators used in the international monitoring practice were calculated. The socio-economic status influence was determined by multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Target achievement was 61.66%, 53.48%, and 54.00% for HbA1c, LDL-C, and blood pressure, respectively, in the studied sample (N=1176). In Hungary, 294,534 patients have above target HbA1c value out of 495,801 T2DM adults. The education-dependent positive association with majority of process indicators was not reflected in HbA1c, LDL-C, and blood pressure target achievements. The risk of microvascular complications and requirement of insulin treatment were higher among less educated. CONCLUSIONS: According to our observations, the education-independent target achievement for HbA1c and LDL-C is similar as, for blood pressure is less effective in Hungary than in Europe.

Association between the General Practitioner Workforce Crisis and Premature Mortality in Hungary: Cross-Sectional Evaluation of Health Insurance Data from 2006 to 2014.

The workforce crisis of primary care is reflected in the increasing number of general medical practices (GMP) with vacant general practitioner (GP) positions, and the GPs' ageing. Our study aimed to describe the association between this crisis and premature mortality. Age-sex-standardized mortality for 18⁻64 years old adults was calculated for all Hungarian GMPs annually in the period from 2006 to 2014. The relationship of premature mortality with GPs' age and vacant GP positions was evaluated by standardized linear regression controlled for list size, urbanization, geographical location, clients' education, and type of the GMP. The clients' education was the strongest protective factor (beta = -0175; p < 0.001), followed by urban residence (beta = -0.149; p < 0.001), and bigger list size (beta1601⁻2000 = -0.054; p < 0.001; beta2001-X = -0.096; p < 0.001). The geographical localization also significantly influenced the risk. Although GMPs with a GP aged older than 65 years (beta = 0; p = 0.995) did not affect the risk, GP vacancy was associated with higher risk (beta = 0.010; p = 0.033), although the corresponding number of attributable cases was 23.54 over 9 years. The vacant GP position is associated with a significant but hardly detectable increased risk of premature mortality without considerable public health importance. Nevertheless, employment of GPs aged more than 65 does not impose premature mortality risk elevation.

Healthcare Utilization and All-Cause Premature Mortality in Hungarian Segregated Roma Settlements: Evaluation of Specific Indicators in a Cross-Sectional Study.

Roma is the largest ethnic minority of Europe with deprived health status, which is poorly explored due to legal constrains of ethnicity assessment. We aimed to elaborate health indicators for adults living in segregated Roma settlements (SRS), representing the most vulnerable Roma subpopulation. SRSs were mapped in a study area populated by 54,682 adults. Records of all adults living in the study area were processed in the National Institute of Health Insurance Fund Management. Aggregated, age-sex standardized SRS-specific and non-SRS-specific indicators on healthcare utilization and all-cause premature death along with the ratio of them (RR) were computed with 95% confidence intervals. The rate of GP appointments was significantly higher among SRS inhabitants (RR = 1.152, 95% CI: 1.136⁻1.167). The proportion of subjects hospitalized (RR = 1.286, 95% CI: 1.177⁻1.405) and the reimbursement for inpatient care (RR = 1.060, 95% CI: 1.057⁻1.064) were elevated for SRS. All-cause premature mortality was significantly higher in SRSs (RR = 1.711, 1.085⁻2.696). Our study demonstrated that it is possible to compute the SRS-specific version of routine healthcare indicators without violating the protection of personal data by converting a sensitive ethical issue into a non-sensitive small-area geographical analysis; there is an SRS-specific healthcare utilization pattern, which is associated with elevated costs and increased risk of all-cause premature death.

Influence of patient characteristics on preventive service delivery and general practitioners' preventive performance indicators: A study in patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus from Hungary.

BACKGROUND: Regular primary healthcare (PHC) performance monitoring to produce a set of performance indicators for provider effectiveness is a fundamental method for improving guideline adherence but there are potential negative impacts of the inadequate application of this approach. Since performance indicators can reflect patient characteristics and working environments, as well as PHC team contributions, inadequate monitoring practices can reduce their effectiveness in the prevention of cardiometabolic disorders. OBJECTIVES: To describe the influence of patients' characteristics on performance indicators of PHC preventive practices in patients with hypertension or diabetes mellitus. METHODS: This cross-sectional analysis was based on a network of 165 collaborating GPs. A random sample of 4320 adults was selected from GP's patient lists. The response rate was 97.3% in this survey. Sociodemographic status, lifestyle, health attitudes and the use of recommended preventive PHC services were surveyed by questionnaire. The relationship between the use of preventive services and patient characteristics were analysed using hierarchical regression models in a subsample of 1659 survey participants with a known diagnosis of hypertension or diabetes mellitus. RESULTS: Rates of PHC service utilization varied from 18.0% to 97.9%, and less than half (median: 44.4%; IQR: 30.8-62.5) of necessary services were used by patients. Patient attitude was as strong of an influencing factor as demographic properties but was remarkably weaker than patient socioeconomic status. CONCLUSION: These findings emphasize that PHC performance indicators have to be evaluated concerning patient characteristics.

Smoking cessation support for regular smokers in Hungarian primary care: a nationwide representative cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of general practitioners' (GPs') smoking cessation support (SCS). STUDY DESIGN: We carried out a cross-sectional study between February and April 2016. SETTING AND PARTICIPANT: A sample of 2904 regular smokers aged 18 years or older was selected randomly from 18 general medical practices involved in a national representative, general medical practice-based morbidity monitoring system. The GPs surveyed the selected adults and identified 708 regular smokers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Multivariate logistic regression models have been applied to evaluate the determinants (age, gender, education, smoking-related comorbidity, smoking intensity, intention to quit smoking and nicotine dependence) of provision of GP-mediated SCS such as brief intervention, pharmacological and non-pharmacological programmatic support. RESULTS: According to the survey, 24.4% of the adults were regular smokers, 30% of them showed high nicotine dependence and 38.2% willing to quit smoking. Most of the smokers were not participated in SCS by GPs: brief intervention, programmatic non-pharmacological support and pharmacotherapy were provided for 25%, 7% and 2% of smokers, respectively. Low-nicotine-dependence individuals were less (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.12 to 0.75), patients with intention to quit were more (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.00 to 2.22) likely to receive a brief intervention. Vocational (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.59) and high school education (OR 2.08, 95% CI 1.31 to 3.31), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and cardiovascular diseases (OR 3.34, 95% CI 1.04 to 10.68; OR 3.91, 95% CI 2.33 to 6.54) increased the probability to receive support by GP. CONCLUSIONS: Although there are differences among smokers' subgroups, the SCS in Hungarian primary care is generally insufficient, compared with guidelines. Practically, the pharmacological support is not included in Hungarian GPs' practice. GPs should increase substantially the working time devoted to SCS, and the organisation of primary healthcare should support GPs in improving SCS services.