Original articleWhy Patients Visit Their Doctors: Assessing the Most Prevalent Conditions in a Defined American Population
Section snippets
Study Population
The REP links data on medical care delivered to the population of Olmsted County, Minnesota.7, 8, 9 The vast majority of medical care in this community is currently provided by a few health care institutions: the Mayo Clinic and its 2 affiliated hospitals, Olmsted Medical Center and its affiliated hospital, and the Rochester Family Medicine Clinic. The health care records from these institutions are linked together through the REP records linkage system.8, 9 Patients are categorized as
Description of the Olmsted County Population
Overall, the REP infrastructure captured 146,687 Olmsted County residents in 2009 compared with 143,962 individuals predicted by the US Census.17 Therefore, the REP captured slightly more people than the US Census (101.9%). These results are consistent with a previous study that examined REP capture rates between 1970 and 2000.8
Of 146,687 residents, 142,377 gave permission for use of their medical records for research (97.1%). The population included 75,512 females (53%). Age and sex
Principal Findings
Using the REP medical records linkage system, we described the prevalence of the most common medical conditions in a defined US population across all ages, for men and women separately, and across ethnic groups. Surprisingly, the most prevalent nonacute conditions in our community were not chronic conditions related to aging such as diabetes and heart disease but rather conditions that affect both sexes and all age groups: skin disorders, osteoarthritis and joint disorders, back problems,
Conclusion
In this article, we report the prevalence of 47 broad categories of nonacute conditions across all age groups, in men and women separately, and across ethnic groups in the Olmsted County population. The data provide insight into current health care use in a defined US population and may predict future health care service and work force needs as well as opportunities for prevention. Finding that skin and back problems are major drivers of health care utilization affirms the importance of moving
Acknowledgements
We thank Lori Klein for assistance with manuscript preparation.
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Grant Support: This study was made possible by the Rochester Epidemiology Project (grant number R01-AG034676; Principal Investigators: Walter A. Rocca, MD, MPH, and Barbara P. Yawn, MD, MSc). This project was also supported by funding from the Mayo Clinic Center for Translational Science Activities (UL1 RR024150).