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Partners of cancer patients have increased primary health care use for somatic and psychosocial problems.

Heins, M., Schellevis, F.G., Rijken, P.M., Donker, G.A., Hoek, L. van der, Korevaar, J.C. Partners of cancer patients have increased primary health care use for somatic and psychosocial problems.: , 2013. 46 p. Abstract. In: Abstractbook 6th Annual Meeting of the Cancer and Primary Care Research International (Ca-PRI) network. 15th-16th april 2013, Cambridge.
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Background: Partners of cancer patients experience psychological distress and impaired physical health. This may affect their GP use, both in number of contacts and reason for contact. Research question: Is GP use of partners of cancer patients altered in the period around the diagnosis? Methods: We included partners of 1,288 breast cancer, 705 prostate cancer, 649 colorectal cancer and 429 lung cancer patients. Patients were diagnosed between January 2001 and December 2009 and were alive at least 2 years after the diagnosis. Based on their electronic medical files, we determined the number of GP contacts and health problems of partners between 6 months before and 24 months after diagnosis, compared to baseline (18-6 months before diagnosis). Results: Partners’ overall GP use in the six months before and after diagnosis was similar to baseline. Between 6 and 24 months after diagnosis, the number of GP contacts was increased in partners of breast, prostate and colorectal cancer patients (31%(p=0.001), 26%(p=0.001) and 19%(p=0.042)).