The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Skin Disease Diagnosis in Primary Care Settings: A Systematic Review.

The prevalence of dermatological conditions in primary care, coupled with challenges such as dermatologist shortages and rising consultation costs, highlights the need for innovative solutions. Artificial intelligence (AI) holds promise for improving the diagnostic analysis of skin lesion images, potentially enhancing patient care in primary settings. This systematic review following PRISMA guidelines examined primary studies (2012-2022) assessing AI algorithms' diagnostic accuracy for skin diseases in primary care.

Effectiveness of an App for tobacco cessation in pregnant smokers (TOBBGEST): study protocol.

Background: Tobacco consumption during pregnancy is one of the most modifiable causes of morbidity and mortality for both pregnant smokers and their foetus. Even though pregnant smokers are conscious about the negative effects of tobacco consumption, they also had barriers for smoking cessation and most of them continue smoking, being a major public health problem. The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of an application (App) for mobile devices, designed with a gamification strategy, in order to help pregnant smokers to quit smoking during pregnancy and in the long term.

Using Artificial Intelligence as a Diagnostic Decision Support Tool in Skin Disease: Protocol for an Observational Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Dermatological conditions are a relevant health problem. Each person has an average of 1.6 skin diseases per year, and consultations for skin pathology represent 20% of the total annual visits to primary care and around 35% are referred to a dermatology specialist.

Comparing the Clinical Characteristics and Mortality of Residential and Non-Residential Older People with COVID-19: Retrospective Observational Study.

Nursing homes have accounted for a significant part of SARS-CoV-2 mortality, causing great social alarm. Using data collected from electronic medical records of 1,319,839 institutionalised and non-institutionalised persons ≥ 65 years, the present study investigated the epidemiology and differential characteristics between these two population groups. Our results showed that the form of presentation of the epidemic outbreak, as well as some risk factors, are different among the elderly institutionalised population with respect to those who are not.

Association between the reduction of face-to-face appointments and the control of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus during the Covid-19 pandemic in Catalonia.

Aim: To analyse the relation between face-to-face appointments and management of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) visited in primary care practices (PCP).

Methods: Retrospective study in 287 primary care practices (PCPs) attending>300,000 patients with T2DM. We analysed the results of 9 diabetes-related indicators of the Healthcare quality standard, comprising foot and retinopathy screening, blood pressure (BP) and glycemic control; and the incidence of T2DM.

Characterization and Identification of Variations in Types of Primary Care Visits Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Catalonia: Big Data Analysis Study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has turned the care model of health systems around the world upside down, causing the abrupt cancellation of face-to-face visits and redirection of the model toward telemedicine. Digital transformation boosts information systems-the more robust they are, the easier it is to monitor the health care system in a highly complex state and allow for more agile and reliable analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to analyze diagnoses from primary care visits and distinguish between those that had higher and lower variations, relative to the 2019 and 2020 periods (roughly before and during COVID-19), to identify clinical profiles that may have been most impaired from the least-used diagnostic codes for visits during the pandemic.

Assessing the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 disease based on a predictive tree model: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: Primary care is the major point of access in most health systems in developed countries and therefore for the detection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. The quality of its IT systems, together with access to the results of mass screening with Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, makes it possible to analyse the impact of various concurrent factors on the likelihood of contracting the disease.

Methods And Findings: Through data mining techniques with the sociodemographic and clinical variables recorded in patient's medical histories, a decision tree-based logistic regression model has been proposed which analyses the significance of demographic and clinical variables in the probability of having a positive PCR in a sample of 7,314 individuals treated in the Primary Care service of the public health system of Catalonia.

Clinical Characterization of Patients With COVID-19 in Primary Care in Catalonia: Retrospective Observational Study.

Background: The country of Spain has one of the highest incidences of COVID-19, with more than 1,000,000 cases as of the end of October 2020. Patients with a history of chronic conditions, obesity, and cancer are at greater risk from COVID-19; moreover, concerns surrounding the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin type II receptor blockers (ARBs) and its relationship to COVID-19 susceptibility have increased since the beginning of the pandemic.

Objective: The objectives of this study were to compare the characteristics of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 to those of patients without COVID-19 in primary care; to determine the risk factors associated with the outcome of mortality; and to determine the potential influence of certain medications, such as ACEIs and ARBs, on the mortality of patients with COVID-19.

Diagnosis of Skin Lesions Using Photographs Taken With a Mobile Phone: An Online Survey of Primary Care Physicians.

Skin conditions are one of the most frequent reasons for visiting a primary health care facility, making it of vital importance that general practitioners (GPs) have the right knowledge and tools to diagnose the most frequent dermatological conditions. This study evaluates the accuracy of dermatological diagnoses made by 120 GPs based on photographs taken with a smartphone by an anonymous online cross-sectional survey. The study was carried out between August and October 2018.

Primary Care Professionals' Acceptance of Medical Record-Based, Store and Forward Provider-to-Provider Telemedicine in Catalonia: Results of a Web-Based Survey.

While telemedicine services enjoy a high acceptance among the public, evidence regarding clinician's acceptance, a key factor for sustainable telemedicine services, is mixed. However, telemedicine is generally better accepted by both patients and professionals who live in rural areas, as it can save them significant time. The objective of this study is to assess the acceptance of medical record-based, store and forward provider-to-provider telemedicine among primary care professionals and to describe the factors which may determine their future use.

Environmental and Patient Impact of Applying a Point-of-Care Ultrasound Model in Primary Care: Rural vs. Urban Centres.

Motor vehicles are a major contributor to air pollution, and the exposure to this human-caused air pollution can lead to harmful health effects. This study evaluates the impact of the provision of point-of-care ultrasounds (POCUS) by primary care (PC) to avoid the patient's need to travel to a specialized service. The study estimates the costs and air pollution avoided during 2019.

Figure Correction: Exploring Efficacy of a Serious Game (Tobbstop) for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy: Randomized Controlled Trial.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/12835.].

A New Tool for Public Health Opinion to Give Insight Into Telemedicine: Twitter Poll Analysis.

Background: Telemedicine draws on information technologies in order to enable the delivery of clinical health care from a distance. Twitter is a social networking platform that has 316 million monthly active users with 500 million tweets per day; its potential for real-time monitoring of public health has been well documented. There is a lack of empirical research that has critically examined the potential of Twitter polls for providing insight into public health.

Exploring Efficacy of a Serious Game (Tobbstop) for Smoking Cessation During Pregnancy: Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Tobacco use during pregnancy entails a serious risk to the mother and harmful effects on the development of the child. Europe has the highest tobacco smoking prevalence (19.3%) compared with the 6.

Artificial Intelligence for the Detection of Diabetic Retinopathy in Primary Care: Protocol for Algorithm Development.

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most important causes of blindness worldwide, especially in developed countries. In diabetic patients, periodic examination of the back of the eye using a nonmydriatic camera has been widely demonstrated to be an effective system to control and prevent the onset of DR. Convolutional neural networks have been used to detect DR, achieving very high sensitivities and specificities.

Social Networking App Use Among Primary Health Care Professionals: Web-Based Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background: Several studies have been conducted to analyze the role social networks play in communication between patients and health professionals. However, there is a shortage of studies in relation to communication among primary health professionals, in a professional context, using the various mobile phone apps available.

Objective: The objective of our study was to explore mobile phone social networking app use among primary health care professionals for work-related purposes, by comparing the most widely used apps in the market.