What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate whether patient exposure to general practitioners with a high frequency of C-reactive protein point-of-care testing is associated with increased long-term use of out-of-hours primary care services.

August 16, 2026Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health CareOpen Access

Out-of-hours C-reactive protein point-of-care testing and its association with long-term healthcare-seeking

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Authors

JLJesper LykkegaardUniversity of Copenhagen JOJonas OlsenUniversity of Southern Denmark CVClaus Høstrup VestergaardUniversity of Southern Denmark

Discussion

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Implication

Cohort study reveals increased long-term out-of-hours healthcare revisits after seeing high-testing general practitioners, suggesting diagnostic testing may encourage unnecessary future visits.

Key Points

To evaluate whether patient exposure to general practitioners with a high frequency of C-reactive protein point-of-care testing is associated with increased long-term use of out-of-hours primary care services.
Conducted a register-based time-to-event study analyzing all in-person out-of-hours primary care consultations in the Central Denmark Region from 2014 to 2017 (N = 862,733).
Defined exposure as the general practitioner's adjusted tendency to use CRP-POCT relative to peers across their preceding 50 consultations, adjusting for patient demographics, practitioner experience, and consultation timing.
The overall proportion of consultations utilizing CRP-POCT increased from 12% in 2014 to 19% in 2017, with Kaplan-Meier estimates indicating a median time of 2.5 years before 50% of patients returned for another out-of-hours visit.
Patients treated by general practitioners with twice the average CRP-POCT usage or greater had an increased rate of revisiting out-of-hours care compared to those seen by average-use practitioners (adjusted HR = 1.038, 95% CI = 1.023 to 1.054).

Cite This Study

Lykkegaard et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a81799af2fb91fc834acc89 https://doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2026.2706193

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August 16, 2026Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health CareOpen Access

Out-of-hours C-reactive protein point-of-care testing and its association with long-term healthcare-seeking

View Full Paper

Ask AI

Bookmark

Authors

JLJesper LykkegaardUniversity of Copenhagen JOJonas OlsenUniversity of Southern Denmark CVClaus Høstrup VestergaardUniversity of Southern Denmark

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Cohort study reveals increased long-term out-of-hours healthcare revisits after seeing high-testing general practitioners, suggesting diagnostic testing may encourage unnecessary future visits.

Key Points

To evaluate whether patient exposure to general practitioners with a high frequency of C-reactive protein point-of-care testing is associated with increased long-term use of out-of-hours primary care services.
Conducted a register-based time-to-event study analyzing all in-person out-of-hours primary care consultations in the Central Denmark Region from 2014 to 2017 (N = 862,733).
Defined exposure as the general practitioner's adjusted tendency to use CRP-POCT relative to peers across their preceding 50 consultations, adjusting for patient demographics, practitioner experience, and consultation timing.
The overall proportion of consultations utilizing CRP-POCT increased from 12% in 2014 to 19% in 2017, with Kaplan-Meier estimates indicating a median time of 2.5 years before 50% of patients returned for another out-of-hours visit.
Patients treated by general practitioners with twice the average CRP-POCT usage or greater had an increased rate of revisiting out-of-hours care compared to those seen by average-use practitioners (adjusted HR = 1.038, 95% CI = 1.023 to 1.054).

Cite This Study

Lykkegaard et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a81799af2fb91fc834acc89 https://doi.org/10.1080/02813432.2026.2706193

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