Abstract
Objectives
Physical activity is essential in the primary and secondary prevention of several
chronic diseases and should be a standard component of clinical care. The aims of
this study were to examine the trends and characteristics of referrals to exercise
physiologists in routine care in a nationally representative sample of general practitioners
(GPs) in Australia.
Design
This prospective study was an analysis of Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health
(BEACH) GP data from April 2009 to March 2016.
Methods
In total, each of 6827 randomly sampled GPs recorded details of 100 consecutive encounters
(N = 682,700). The rate of exercise physiologist referrals was calculated by patient and
GP characteristics.
Results
Over the study period, the rate at which GPs referred their patients significantly
increased from 0.38 to 1.44 per 1000 encounters. Patients aged 45–64 years were most
likely to be referred (1.32 per 1000 encounters). Patients from non-English-speaking
backgrounds were referred at less than half the rate (0.41 per 1000) of those from
English speaking backgrounds (0.96). Female GPs referred patients (1.27 per 1000 encounters)
twice as often as male GPs (0.64). One-third (35.3%) of GP referrals were made for
problems relating to the endocrine, nutritional and metabolic systems (e.g., obesity,
diabetes mellitus); only 1.6% of referrals were made for mental health conditions.
Conclusions
Although increasing, the rate of GP referral to exercise physiologists was low and
associated with patient and GP characteristics. Education of GPs about the role of
exercise physiologists in the prevention and management of chronic disease is needed.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 20, 2018
Accepted:
October 9,
2018
Received in revised form:
September 27,
2018
Received:
August 22,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
