- Design
- Cross-sectional analysis of a population cohort baseline survey
- Population
- 837 adults aged ≥65 in three Berlin neighbourhoods
- Primary outcome
- Self-rated health (five-point scale)
- Effect
- b = 0.008 (95% CI 0.002–0.015) for continuity with the same GP
This cross-sectional analysis from the Ageing Well study interviewed 837 adults aged 65 or over in three Berlin neighbourhoods. Continuity was measured as years registered with a practice and years with the same GP; the outcome was self-rated health on a five-point scale.
Continuity with the same GP was positively associated with self-rated health after adjustment for age, sex, social status, morbidity, depression and anxiety, but the effect was very small (b = 0.008 per unit, 95% CI 0.002 to 0.015). Lifetime morbidity explained the most variance; depressive symptoms were linked to worse self-rated health.
Other research links continuity to lower mortality and fewer admissions. The authors suggest a single-item self-rating may be too blunt to capture what continuity does. It is not evidence against continuity.
- Continuity with the same GP remains worth protecting, especially for older patients with several conditions.
- Self-rated health was more strongly associated with illness burden and mood than with continuity.
- Screen for depression in older adults who rate their health poorly.
- Where possible, book follow-up with the same clinician rather than the next free slot.
Why it matters
It warns against judging continuity by patient self-ratings alone.
Don't overread it
This is a cross-sectional association in one city; it cannot show continuity causes better health.
The statistics, in plain English
A coefficient of 0.008 means each additional unit of continuity (for example a year) moved self-rated health by less than a hundredth of a point on a five-point scale. The confidence interval does not include zero, so it is unlikely to be chance, but it is too small to matter to one patient.
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