The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Promoting physical activity is an important part of patient care in primary care and has been investigated in many studies with a wide range of intervention characteristics, often including external support. It is unclear, however, if promoting physical activity is effective. ⋯ Counselling to promote physical activity in primary care has a limited effect on patients' behaviour and it might not, on its own, be enough to change physical activity behaviour.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Targeted encouragement of GP consultations for possible cancer symptoms: a randomised controlled trial.
For some common cancers, survival is lower in the UK than in comparable high-income countries. ⋯ Targeted interventions of this nature can change behaviour; there is a need to develop interventions that can be more effective at engaging patients with primary care. This study demonstrates that targeted interventions promoting both awareness of possible cancer symptoms and earlier health seeking, can change behaviour. There is a need to develop and test interventions that can be more effective at engaging the most at-risk patients.
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Patients with myeloma experience substantial delays in their diagnosis, which can adversely affect their prognosis. ⋯ The implementation of these prediction rules would highlight the possibility of myeloma in patients where GPs do not suspect myeloma. Future research should focus on the prospective evaluation of further external validity and the impact on clinical practice.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has altered the context for antimicrobial stewardship in primary care. ⋯ Pandemic months were initially associated with increased antibiotic prescribing, which then fell below expected levels during the national lockdown. Findings are reassuring that antibiotic stewardship priorities have not been neglected because of COVID-19. Research is required into the effects of reduced RTI/UTI consultations on incidence of serious bacterial infections.
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Diagnosis of prostate cancer at an early stage can potentially identify tumours when intervention may improve treatment options and survival. ⋯ The risk equation provided valid measures of absolute risk and had higher sensitivity for incident prostate cancer, high-grade cancers, and prostate cancer mortality than a simple approach based on age and PSA threshold.