A scoping review on the factors associated with the lost to follow-up (LTFU) amongst patients with chronic disease in ambulatory care of high-income countries (HIC)

BMC Health Services Research

Research

Rui Ying Victoria Koh¹  Ching Yi Michelle Tong²  Eng Sing Lee³ 

[1] MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation, Singapore, Singapore;National Healthcare Group Polyclinics, Singapore, Singapore;National Healthcare Group Polyclinics, Singapore, Singapore;MOH Office for Healthcare Transformation, Singapore, Singapore;Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore;

关键词: Lost to follow-up;    Chronic disease;    Mental health;    Physical health;    Ambulatory care;    High-income countries;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12913-023-09863-0

 received in 2022-12-19, accepted in 2023-07-31,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDespite the importance of long term follow-up care for patients with chronic disease, many patients fail to adhere to their follow-ups, which increase their risk of further health complications. Therefore, the purpose of this scoping review was to find out the factors associated with lost to follow-up (LTFU) amongst patients with chronic disease in the ambulatory care setting of high-income countries (HICs) to gain insights for better quality of care. Understanding the definition of LTFU is imperative in informing patients, health professionals and researchers for clinical and research purposes. This review also provided an overview of the terms and definitions used to describe LTFU.MethodsThe following databases: CINAHL, EMBASE, Medline, PsycINFO and Web of Science were searched for studies investigating the factors associated to LTFU from the date of inception until 07 January 2022.ResultsFive thousand one hundred and seven records were obtained across the databases and 3,416 articles were screened after removing the duplicates. 25 articles met the inclusion criteria, of which 17 were cohort studies, five were cross-sectional studies and three were case-control studies. A total of 32 factors were found to be associated with LTFU and they were categorised into patient factors, clinical factors and healthcare provider factors.ConclusionOverall, the factors associated with LTFU were generally inconsistent across studies. However, some factors such as financial factors (i.e., no insurance coverage) and low accessibility of care were consistently associated with LTFU for both mental and physical chronic conditions. The operational definitions of LTFU also varied greatly across studies. Given the mixed findings, future research using qualitative aproaches would be pivotal in understanding LTFU for specific chronic diseases and the development of targeted interventions. Additionally, there is a need to standardise the operational definition of LTFU for research as well as clinical practice purposes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

【 图 表 】

40517_2023_261_Article_IEq6.gif

Fig. 3