Morbidity patterns in Primary Health Care in Greece: a national, prospective, observational study

Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs) are usually chronic conditions of long duration. The need for the early identification of individuals at risk of developing NCDs, and the effective therapeutic management of individuals already suffering from NCDs, on the one hand, is evident. The main purpose of this study is to record the main demographic and clinical characteristics of the individuals who are monitored in a Primary Health Care Centre, in order to capture the morbidity and the reasons for attendance at the clinics. The current study was designed as a multicenter, prospective, non-interventional, observational study of adults presenting for any reason, planned or unplanned, to the centers/practices participating in the study. The follow-up of the patients had a duration of twenty-four (24) months and includes at least two (2) visits (initial and final), and additionally an intermediate visit at the completion of the 1st year. Descriptive statistics were used in order to estimate the baseline characteristics and the prevalence of chronic NCDs. At the time of the first data analysis, data had been collected from October to November 2024 and the data of 421 patients were analyzed. The overall cohorts’ mean age was 61.9 ± 14.9 years with a range 17-92 years. 40% of the patients enrolled are males and 60% females which corresponds to 170 males and 251 females, respectively. Dyslipidemia, pulmonary diseases and hypertension were the three of the most frequently diagnosed diseases. This is the first non-interventional observation study conducted in Greece regarding patients with chronic NCDs and their baseline characteristics. When data collection will be completed, these results will be updated using the final dataset with all participants and will give more reliable and representative results in order to draw conclusions about morbidity in Greece.