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Depression has been linked to the occurrence of a number of somatic diseases. There are no data for PD.

There is little evidence about the management and course of chronic low back pain in primary care.

Previous research has indicated that GPs encounter barriers in the care of patients who have experienced a traumatic event.

In a GP database, 318 people with intellectual disability (ID) appeared to have 2.5 times more health problems than people without ID. This short report deals with the nature of the health problems. Consequences for health care policy are discussed.

Non-response analysis is often restricted to the influence of age, sex and socio-economic status on response status. In this study the health status of responders and non-responders was also compared.

General practice is an important source of information on the occurrence and distribution of chronic disease in the population. In this study, the burden of chronic illness was expressed as different indices of prevalence. Data were provided by 42 general practitioners in 15 computerized practices, collaborating in the Registration Network Family Practices of the University of Limburg in the Netherlands. Morbidity data concerning the actual health status of 25,357 subjects, as recorded by their GPs, were classified following the International Classification of Primary Care using the diagnostic criteria of the International Classification of Health Problems in Primary Care-2-Defined. The most frequent single disease was asthma (3.5%), while locomotor problems represented the most prevalent category (8.3%). The overall prevalence of chronic disease was 29.4%, with a clear positive correlation with age and, to a lesser extent, with a lower educational level. The ‘social prevalence’ of chronic illness (including individuals related to chronically diseased patients via their households) could be measured in a subset of the database (n = 4577), and amounted to 56%. It is concluded that the role of the GP as a family doctor involved with chronic disease concerns the majority of the general population.