Publication trends on population medicine programs in Primary Health Care: a bibliometric study

Background In the last two decades there has been a growing attention towards the necessity to switch from an individual care to a population-based approach for long term conditions in Primary Health Care in order to assess the population health needs and to guarantee system sustainability. In this context, various programs such as the ‘‘Disease Management Programs’’ or the ‘‘Medical Home’’ have been developed. The aim of this study is to evaluate publication output related to this issue and trends in the USA and in the European Countries. Methods This study consists of a bibliometric analysis of publications over the period 1988–2014. A systematic review was performed by searching MEDLINE database using specific keywords. The records were categorized according to the year of publication and the Country of first author’s affiliation. The descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. Inferential analysis was performed trough a linear regression, the number of articles per year was considered as the dependent variable in a logarithmic scale, being the regression nonlinear in the parameters. Three different regressions were done, one referred to total of Countries, one to the USA and one to the European Countries. Results Out of 1387 records 1257 were included in the analysis. The distribution of the articles among Countries vary from 0,1% of the Ireland to 73% of the USA. The time trend analysis showed an increase by 24% of the number of publications per year (CI 95% 22%-27%) in the total of Countries, by 23% per year (CI95% 20%-25%) in the USA and of 10% per year (CI95% 7%-13%) in the European Countries. 8th European Public Health Conference: Poster Displays 475 Conclusion The present study showed that there has been a growing interest in scientific research regarding to the population medicine approach in Primary Health Care both in the USA and European Countries. Further studies are necessary to assess the impact of these programs according to the Triple Aim perspective (effectiveness, patient experience, sustainability). Key messages This is a contribution to the evidence of the relevance of population medicine for long term conditions in Primary Health Care European Healthcare Systems welfare oriented can implement population medicine programs in Primary Health Care supported by this evidence