The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners
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Primary care consultation patterns prior to suicide: a nationally representative case-control study.
Consultation with primary healthcare professionals may provide an opportunity to identify patients at higher suicide risk. ⋯ Escalating or more than monthly consultations are associated with increased suicide risk regardless of patients' sociodemographic characteristics and regardless of the presence (or absence) of known psychiatric illnesses.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Depression follow-up monitoring with the PHQ-9: open cluster-randomised controlled trial.
Outcome monitoring of depression treatment is recommended but there is a lack of evidence on patient benefit in primary care. ⋯ No evidence was found of improved depression outcome at 12 weeks from monitoring. The findings of possible benefits over 26 weeks warrant replication, investigating possible mechanisms, preferably with automated delivery of monitoring and more instructive feedback.
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People with serious mental illness are more likely to experience physical illnesses. The onset of many of these illnesses can be prevented if detected early. Physical health screening for people with serious mental illness is incentivised in primary care in England through the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF). GPs are paid to conduct annual physical health checks on patients with serious mental illness, including checks of body mass index (BMI), cholesterol, and alcohol consumption. ⋯ This analysis supports the hypothesis that QOF incentives lead to better uptake of physical health checks.