The European journal of general practice
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Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory non-communicable disease (NCD) characterised by the destruction of the tooth-supporting apparatus (periodontium), including alveolar bone, the presence of periodontal pockets, and bleeding on probing. ⋯ Closer collaboration between OHPs and family doctors is important in the early case detection and management of NCDs like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and respiratory diseases. Strategies for early case detection/prevention of NCDs, including periodontitis, should be developed for family doctors, other health professionals (OHPs), and healthcare funders. Evidence-based information on the reported associations between periodontitis and other NCDs should be made available to family doctors, OHPs, healthcare funders, patients, and the general population.
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Worldwide, there are concerns about declining mental health of children and young people (CYP). ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly increase consultation rates for psychosocial problems in CYP. The consultation rates increased, especially in adolescent girls and young women.
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Often described as a natural economic trend, the prices that pharmaceutical companies charge for new medicines have skyrocketed in recent years. Companies claim these prices are justified because of the 'value' new treatments represent or that they reflect the high costs and risks associated with the research and development process. They also claim that the revenues generated through these high prices are required to pay for continued innovation. ⋯ As a result, people and health systems worldwide struggle to pay for the increasingly expensive health products, with growing inequities in access to even life-saving medicines while the biopharmaceutical industry and its financiers are the most lucrative business sectors. As the extreme COVID-19 vaccine inequities once again highlighted, we urgently need to reform the social contract between governments, the biopharmaceutical industry, and the public and restore its original health purpose. Policymakers must redesign policies and financing of the pharmaceutical research and development ecosystem such that public and private sectors work together towards the shared objective of responding to public health and patients' needs, rather than maximising financial return because medicines should not be a luxury.
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Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people face barriers to primary care, which remains the main entry point for accessing gender-affirming healthcare in the UK. ⋯ This review demonstrates TNB people's mixed experiences of primary care alongside their recommendations for service improvement. This is the first systematically reviewed evidence on the topic, emphasising the need for clinicians and policymakers to centre the voices of the TNB community in service design and improvement.
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To better manage patients with a wide range of mental health problems, general practitioners would benefit from diagnostically accurate and time-efficient screening tools that comprehensively assess mental illness. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to identify screening tools that either take a multiple-mental disorder or a transdiagnostic approach. As primary and secondary outcomes, diagnostic accuracy and time efficiency were investigated. ⋯ The eleven identified screening tools can support general practitioners to identify patients with mental health problems. However, there was great heterogeneity concerning their diagnostic scope of psychopathology. Further screening tools for primary care are needed that target broad constructs of mental illness, such as transdiagnostic factors or personality dysfunction.