Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic?
<p><strong>Background</strong> This is a study of the epidemiology of acute and chronic episodes of care (EoCs) in the Transition Project in three countries. We studied the duration of EoCs for acute and chronic health problems and the relationship of incidence to prevalence rates...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT
2013-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/44 |
| _version_ | 1811303619636494336 |
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| author | Jean K Soler Inge Okkes Sibo Oskam Kes van Boven Predag Zivotic Milan Jevtic Frank Dobbs Henk Lamberts |
| author_facet | Jean K Soler Inge Okkes Sibo Oskam Kes van Boven Predag Zivotic Milan Jevtic Frank Dobbs Henk Lamberts |
| author_sort | Jean K Soler |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p><strong>Background</strong> This is a study of the epidemiology of acute and chronic episodes of care (EoCs) in the Transition Project in three countries. We studied the duration of EoCs for acute and chronic health problems and the relationship of incidence to prevalence rates for these EoCs.</p><p><strong>Method</strong> The Transition Project databases collect data on all elements of the doctor–patient encounter in family medicine. Family doctors code these elements using the International Classification of Primary Care.We used the data from three practice populations to study the duration of EoCs and the ratio of incidence to prevalence for common health problems.</p><p><strong>Results</strong> We found that chronic health problems tended to have proportionately longer duration EoCs, as expected, but also a lower incidence to prevalence rate ratio than acute health problems. Thus, the incidence to prevalence index could be used to define a chronic condition as one with a low ratio, below a defined threshold.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong> Chronic health problems tend to have longer duration EoCs, proportionately, across populations. This result is expected, but we found important similarities and differences which make defining a problem as chronic on the basis of time rather difficult. The ratio of incidence to prevalence rates has potential to categorise health problems into acute or chronic categories, at different ratio thresholds (such as 20, 30 or 50%). It seems to perform well in this study of three family practice populations, and is proposed to the scientific community for further evaluation.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:51:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4daca1ad0adb4171ad17de756eb10068 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2058-4555 2058-4563 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T07:51:39Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics |
| spelling | doaj.art-4daca1ad0adb4171ad17de756eb100682022-12-22T02:55:31ZengBCS, The Chartered Institute for ITJournal of Innovation in Health Informatics2058-45552058-45632013-12-01201132310.14236/jhi.v20i1.4432Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic?Jean K Soler0Inge Okkes1Sibo Oskam2Kes van Boven3Predag Zivotic4Milan Jevtic5Frank Dobbs6Henk Lamberts7Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UK and Mediterranean Institute of Primary Care, Attard, MaltaMediterranean Institute of Primary Care, Attard, Malta and Formerly Department of General Practice, University of Amsterdam, the NetherlandsFormerly Department of General Practice, University of Amsterdam, the NetherlandsDepartment of Primary and Community Care, Nijmegen Medical Centre, Radboud University, the NetherlandsHealth Information Unit Manager, EU Hospital Health Information System Project, UNOPS, SerbiaDeputy Executive Director, Saga System Integration, Belgrade, SerbiaFaculty of Life and Health Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, UKMediterranean Institute of Primary Care, Attard, Malta and Formerly Department of General Practice, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands<p><strong>Background</strong> This is a study of the epidemiology of acute and chronic episodes of care (EoCs) in the Transition Project in three countries. We studied the duration of EoCs for acute and chronic health problems and the relationship of incidence to prevalence rates for these EoCs.</p><p><strong>Method</strong> The Transition Project databases collect data on all elements of the doctor–patient encounter in family medicine. Family doctors code these elements using the International Classification of Primary Care.We used the data from three practice populations to study the duration of EoCs and the ratio of incidence to prevalence for common health problems.</p><p><strong>Results</strong> We found that chronic health problems tended to have proportionately longer duration EoCs, as expected, but also a lower incidence to prevalence rate ratio than acute health problems. Thus, the incidence to prevalence index could be used to define a chronic condition as one with a low ratio, below a defined threshold.</p><p><strong>Conclusions</strong> Chronic health problems tend to have longer duration EoCs, proportionately, across populations. This result is expected, but we found important similarities and differences which make defining a problem as chronic on the basis of time rather difficult. The ratio of incidence to prevalence rates has potential to categorise health problems into acute or chronic categories, at different ratio thresholds (such as 20, 30 or 50%). It seems to perform well in this study of three family practice populations, and is proposed to the scientific community for further evaluation.</p>http://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/44electronic medical recordelectronic patient recordepidemiologyepisode of carefamily medicinegeneral practiceincidenceInternational Classification of Primary Care (ICPC)longitudinalMaltaprevalenceSerbiaThe Netherlands |
| spellingShingle | Jean K Soler Inge Okkes Sibo Oskam Kes van Boven Predag Zivotic Milan Jevtic Frank Dobbs Henk Lamberts Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? Journal of Innovation in Health Informatics electronic medical record electronic patient record epidemiology episode of care family medicine general practice incidence International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) longitudinal Malta prevalence Serbia The Netherlands |
| title | Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? |
| title_full | Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? |
| title_short | Revisiting the concept of ‘chronic disease’ from the perspective of the episode of care model. Does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic? |
| title_sort | revisiting the concept of chronic disease from the perspective of the episode of care model does the ratio of incidence to prevalence rate help us to define a problem as chronic |
| topic | electronic medical record electronic patient record epidemiology episode of care family medicine general practice incidence International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) longitudinal Malta prevalence Serbia The Netherlands |
| url | http://hijournal.bcs.org/index.php/jhi/article/view/44 |
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