Zoe Michaleff1, Paul Campbell1, Jo Protheroe1, Amit Rajani1, Kate M Dunn1
1) United Kingdom
Background and aims: Knee problems are common in children and adolescents. Despite this, little is known about the general population prevalence of healthcare consultations for knee problems by children and adolescents in general practice. This study describes consultations for knee problems, and examines patterns of patient presentations and consultations by key demographic factors.
Methods: All knee consultation records for patients aged 8-19 years were extracted from a general practice consultation database (CiPCA) over one-year. Knee consultation codes were organised into 'Symptom' or 'Diagnosis' categories. Descriptive statistics were used to describe patient presentations and number of consultations overall, and when stratified by age, sex, and socio-economic deprivation.
Results: In 2010, 5,081 musculoskeletal consultations were recorded for 2,836 patients (annual consultation prevalence: 1,034 per 10,000 registered persons aged 8-19 years; 95% CI 998, 1070). Of these, 550 consultations (10.8%), in 327 patients, were for a knee problem (119 per 10,000 registered persons; 95% CI 107, 133). Patient presentations and the number of consultations increased up to 12-15 years and then stabilised. Symptom codes were used more commonly than diagnosis codes for all age and sex groups, except for patients from areas of high deprivation where diagnosis codes were more frequent for both patient presentations (X2=11.32, df=2, p=0.003) and consultations (X2=30.56, df=2, p<0.01). Symptom code use declined with increasing age (X2=27.05, df=3, p<0.001), and were used more for girls compared to boys (X2=6.67, df=1, p=0.01).
Conclusions: Musculoskeletal consultations are common in children and adolescents, and 11% of musculoskeletal consultations are for knee problems. GP’s recording of consultations appears to vary by the demographic factors investigated. Future research is needed to better understand the knee problems encountered by GPs (e.g. aetiology, management) and factors that may influence consultations (e.g. socio-economic deprivation).
Acknowledgements: Keele Inspire Summer Studentship (funded by the Academy of Medical Sciences and supported by the Wellcome Trust).
