Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey
Background: Lyme disease (LD) cases in the UK most commonly present within the primary care setting. Despite an upward trend of incidence, little is known regarding GP experience with diagnosis and treatment. Aim: This study aims to describe baseline primary care clinician Knowledge, Attitude and...
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Royal College of General Practitioners
2025-04-01
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| Series: | BJGP Open |
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| Online Access: | https://bjgpopen.org/content/9/1/BJGPO.2024.0092 |
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| author | Lucy Delaney Amanda Semper Neil French John SP Tulloch |
| author_facet | Lucy Delaney Amanda Semper Neil French John SP Tulloch |
| author_sort | Lucy Delaney |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Lyme disease (LD) cases in the UK most commonly present within the primary care setting. Despite an upward trend of incidence, little is known regarding GP experience with diagnosis and treatment. Aim: This study aims to describe baseline primary care clinician Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) in Scotland and England. Design & setting: Online KAP survey on LD for UK-based practising GPs. Method: An online KAP questionnaire was developed for use in UK primary care. The survey was distributed through UK-based research networks, professional societies, and via social media. Results: A total of 191 complete responses were analysed (England n = 130, Scotland n = 61). The Scotland-based responder group had more relevant consultations in the previous 3 years. Responders from Scotland demonstrated a greater awareness that erythema migrans (EM) is pathognomonic for LD and that serological testing of this patient group is not indicated. Less common cardiac and neurological symptoms were not as well associated with LD by both responder groups for the former and England-based responders for the latter. Prescribing according to the National institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance was identified in 70% of Scotland and 42% of England-based GP responses. Conclusion: Targeted resources may improve clinician confidence on exposure risk, symptom recognition, testing limitations and treatment dose and duration. Scotland-based responders’ better survey performance potentially reflects greater clinical exposure and public awareness of the disease, due to high endemicity within the nation. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3168cffe0d604f1aaf77a0b484ea9dec |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2398-3795 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Royal College of General Practitioners |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJGP Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-3168cffe0d604f1aaf77a0b484ea9dec2025-08-20T02:20:17ZengRoyal College of General PractitionersBJGP Open2398-37952025-04-019110.3399/BJGPO.2024.0092Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice surveyLucy Delaney0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1519-3381Amanda Semper1Neil French2John SP Tulloch3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2150-0090NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UKNIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UKNIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UKNIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UKBackground: Lyme disease (LD) cases in the UK most commonly present within the primary care setting. Despite an upward trend of incidence, little is known regarding GP experience with diagnosis and treatment. Aim: This study aims to describe baseline primary care clinician Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) in Scotland and England. Design & setting: Online KAP survey on LD for UK-based practising GPs. Method: An online KAP questionnaire was developed for use in UK primary care. The survey was distributed through UK-based research networks, professional societies, and via social media. Results: A total of 191 complete responses were analysed (England n = 130, Scotland n = 61). The Scotland-based responder group had more relevant consultations in the previous 3 years. Responders from Scotland demonstrated a greater awareness that erythema migrans (EM) is pathognomonic for LD and that serological testing of this patient group is not indicated. Less common cardiac and neurological symptoms were not as well associated with LD by both responder groups for the former and England-based responders for the latter. Prescribing according to the National institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance was identified in 70% of Scotland and 42% of England-based GP responses. Conclusion: Targeted resources may improve clinician confidence on exposure risk, symptom recognition, testing limitations and treatment dose and duration. Scotland-based responders’ better survey performance potentially reflects greater clinical exposure and public awareness of the disease, due to high endemicity within the nation.https://bjgpopen.org/content/9/1/BJGPO.2024.0092diagnosishealth knowledge, attitudes, practicelyme diseaseprimary care |
| spellingShingle | Lucy Delaney Amanda Semper Neil French John SP Tulloch Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey BJGP Open diagnosis health knowledge, attitudes, practice lyme disease primary care |
| title | Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey |
| title_full | Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey |
| title_fullStr | Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey |
| title_full_unstemmed | Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey |
| title_short | Lyme disease in UK primary care: a knowledge, attitude, and practice survey |
| title_sort | lyme disease in uk primary care a knowledge attitude and practice survey |
| topic | diagnosis health knowledge, attitudes, practice lyme disease primary care |
| url | https://bjgpopen.org/content/9/1/BJGPO.2024.0092 |
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