The edition · Family Medicine
General practice in England still finds only a quarter to a third of people with a learning disability
English registers are growing but remain far below expected prevalence, and teenagers miss their annual checks most; AI reading of wearable pulse signals is a screen for sleep apnoea, not a diagnosis; and continuity with one GP showed only a small link to self-rated health.
The edition in brief
An analysis of NHS England data from January 2022 to November 2025 in the British Journal of General Practice found learning disability registers grew by 30% among 14 to 17 year olds and 15% among adults, yet still hold only 0.59% of patients, between a quarter and a third of expected prevalence. Annual health check uptake rose slightly to 81% of adults and 72% of teenagers, with no difference by deprivation. A meta-analysis of 13 studies (9,983 adults) found AI models reading photoplethysmography, the pulse signal in watches and oximeters, detected obstructive sleep apnoea with pooled sensitivity 79.6% and specificity 76.5%, both with wide credible intervals. In 837 Berlin adults aged 65 or over, longer continuity with the same GP was associated with better self-rated health, but the effect was very small. An uncontrolled Turkish cohort of 30 adults with severe mental illness managed through family physician-led telepsychiatry showed improvements in disability and symptom scores over 12 months, which the authors describe as associations rather than evidence of effectiveness.
AI reading of wearable pulse signals caught about 80% of sleep apnoea, with many false alarms
Use wearable sleep apnoea results to decide who to test properly, never to diagnose or reassure on their own.
Longer continuity with one GP was linked to better self-rated health in older adults, but only slightly
Keep offering older patients the same GP where you can; the association here was very small, which the authors suggest may reflect a blunt outcome measure.
Family physician-led telepsychiatry for severe mental illness in rural Türkiye: symptoms improved, but without a control group
Remote psychiatric support may help a rural family physician manage severe mental illness, but this uncontrolled study cannot show benefit or safety.
Three questions find most sleep apnoea worth testing for
Snoring, witnessed apnoeas and daytime sleepiness are the three questions to ask before any device or test.
Primary care in England has registered only a quarter to a third of people with a learning disability
Identify and code every patient with intellectual disability and offer them a yearly health review from age 14.
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