Proportion of young people in the general population consulting general practitioners: Potential for mental health screening and prevention

• Published in: Early intervention in psychiatry Vol. 14; no. 5; pp. 631 - 635
• Main Authors: Solmi, Marco, Durbaba, Stevo, Ashworth, Mark, Fusar‐Poli, Paolo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Melbourne Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 01.10.2020; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescents; Child & adolescent psychiatry; Comorbidity; Cross-Sectional Studies; Early intervention; Electronic health records; Female; general practitioner; General Practitioners - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Illnesses; London; Male; Mass Screening; Medical screening; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - prevention & control; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental health; Offices; prevention; Psychiatry; Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis; Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology; Psychotic Disorders - prevention & control; Psychotic Disorders - therapy; Referral and Consultation - statistics & numerical data; Risk analysis; Risk Assessment; Young Adult; Young adults; London; general practitioner; mental health; prevention
• ISSN: 1751-7885; 1751-7893; 1751-7893
• DOI: 10.1111/eip.12908

Aim One of the main obstacles with prevention in psychiatry is low detection of young subjects at risk for psychosis. The aim of the present work is to test whether general practitioners' (GP) offices are a possible setting for prevention of mental illness. Methods We used an Electronic Health Record database (Datanet) representing South‐London (Lambeth), where frequency of GP visits were available for each registered subject. Results We show that in 2018 out of almost 175 000 subjects aged 12 to 35, almost six out of ten people were seen by their General practitioner at least once in 2018, and considering those subjects with at least one medical condition, around nine subjects out of ten did the same. Conclusions A high proportion of adolescents and young adults are seen by GPs at least once per year. GP offices should be tested as possible setting for detection of subjects at risk for mental illness, in particular in subjects with risk factors for mental illness.