Article Figures & Data
Tables
- Table 1.
Estimated Average Number of Visits to US Family Physicians per Year by Season Between 1995 and 1998
Season Weighted Visits per Year Percent of Total Visits P >.20 for weighted analysis. Summer 35,670,895 23.4 Fall 39,914,688 26.2 Winter 38,272,194 25.1 Spring 38,476,232 25.3 Total 152,334,009 100.0 - Table 2.
Overall Percentage of Visits for Each Diagnosis and Percentage of Visits for Each Season
Family Physician Diagnosis Subjects With Diagnosis No. (%) Summer % Fall % Winter % Spring % * P <.001 (based on summer = June, July, August). URI = upper respiratory tract infection; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. 1. Hypertension* 1,462 (11.1) 12.6 12.2 9.9 10.0 2. URI* 1,450 (11.0) 5.7 11.5 15.1 10.8 3. Physical examination 1,125 (8.6) 9.1 8.0 8.2 9.0 4. Diabetes 696 (5.3) 5.9 6.0 4.4 4.9 5. Sinusitis* 625 (4.8) 3.3 4.4 5.8 5.4 6. Bronchitis* 614 (4.7) 2.5 4.4 6.3 5.2 7. Degenerative joint disease 529 (4.0) 4.2 4.4 3.7 3.8 8. Asthma* 485 (3.7) 2.6 3.3 4.7 3.8 9. Otitis* 425 (3.2) 1.8 2.5 4.5 3.8 10. Depression 380 (2.9) 3.3 2.9 2.7 2.8 11. Hypercholesterolemia 367 (2.8) 2.9 3.4 2.1 2.9 12. Rhinitis* 358 (2.7) 2.5 1.8 2.4 4.3 13. Back pain 357 (2.7) 3.2 2.5 2.1 3.2 14. Obesity* 265 (2.0) 2.9 1.8 1.5 2.0 15. Urinary tract infection 263 (2.0) 2.2 1.9 1.7 2.3 16. Pregnancy* 240 (1.8) 2.1 2.3 2.2 0.7 17. Headache (includes migraine) 224 (1.7) 1.5 2.1 1.8 1.4 18. Coronary artery disease* 201 (1.5) 2.1 1.8 1.6 0.7 19. COPD 193 (1.5) 1.6 1.6 1.6 1.2 20. Neck pain 190 (1.4) 1.8 1.7 1.0 1.3 21. Contact dermatitis 189 (1.4) 1.6 1.4 1.3 1.5 22. Anxiety 186 (1.4) 1.6 1.2 1.4 1.5 23. Hypothyroidism 168 (1.3) 1.2 1.4 1.2 1.2 - Table 3.
Seasonal Variation of Diagnostic Clusters for 3 Different Seasonal Models for Summer
Reallocation of Months Within Seasons,PValues Diagnosis Summer =June, July, Aug Summer =July, Aug, Sept Summer =May, June, July Note: Original definition of summer = June, July, August. Aug = August; URI = Upper respiratory tract infection; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Sensitivity analysis on seasonality: * Robust seasonality. † Low seasonality. ‡ Moderate seasonality. Hypertension*† <.001* .012 .010 URI* <.001* <.001* <.001* Physical examination .077 .028 .026 Diabetes .013 .014 .124 Sinusitis* <.001* <.001* <.001* Bronchitis* <.001* <.001* <.001* Degenerative joint disease .308 .744 .443 Asthma* <.001* <.001* <.001* Otitis* <.001* <.001* <.001* Depression .422 .954 .119 Hypercholesterolemia† .015 <.001* .224 Rhinitis‡ <.001*‡ <.001*‡ .031‡ Back pain† .015 .010 .001* Obesity‡ .001*‡ <.001*‡ .022‡ Pregnancy‡ <.001*‡ .001*‡ .033‡ Urinary tract infection .545 .728 .892 Headache .329 .491 .133 COPD .534 .840 .673 Neck pain† .032 <.001* .013 Contact dermatitis .741 .802 .896 Anxiety .724 .270 .642 Hypothyroidism .816 .398 .089 Coronary artery disease* <.001* <.001* 001* Season 0–17 y (%) 18–45 y (%) 46–65 y (%) > 65 y (%) Total P <.001. Summer 16.4 36.5 24.8 22.4 100.0 Fall 18.5 34.8 24.7 22.0 100.0 Winter 22.0 36.7 22.8 18.5 100.0 Spring 18.7 37.9 24.4 19.0 100.0 Total 19.0 36.4 24.1 20.4 100.0 - Table 5.
Number of Times in 50 Samples With Diagnostic Cluster Visit Prevalence Estimates <1%, by Sampling Period
Diagnostic Cluster Winter-Summer No. (%) Spring-Fall No. (%) Anxiety 5 (10) 4 (8) Coronary artery disease 0 (0) 10 (20) Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease 0 (0) 1 (2) Contact dermatitis 5 (10) 0 (0) Neck pain 5 (10) 2 (4) Pregnancy 0 (0) 8 (16) Hypothyroidism 4 (8) 7 (14) Urinary tract infection 1 (2) 0 (0) Headache 1 (2) 0 (0) Diagnostic clusters with a visit prevalence <1%, total No. 21 32 Samples with at least 1 diagnosis with a visit prevalence <1%, total No. 20 24 Diagnostic clusters per sample with a visit prevalence <1%, mean No. (SD) 0.80 (SD 1.01) 1.12 (SD 1.26)
Additional Files
Supplemental Table and Figures
Table 6. Percentage of visits for each diagnostic cluster for winter-summer and spring-fall sampling strategies, compared with the full-year data set; Figure 1. Percentage of diagnoses; Figure 2. Percentage of diagnoses.
Files in this Data Supplement:
- Supplemental data: Table 6 - PDF file, 1 page, 76 KB
- Supplemental data: Figure 1 - PDF file, 1 page, 43 KB
- Supplemental data: Figure 2 - PDF file, 1 page, 43 KB
The Article in Brief
Family doctors tend to treat the same types of illnesses and problems over time. Based on the season of the year, however, there is variation in the illnesses and problems that family doctors treat and in the ages of patients who visit them. In the winter, for example, family doctors treat more infectious conditions and have more visits by children than during other times of the year. An understanding of seasonal differences helps researchers study medical conditions that are frequently seen in primary care practice.