Publicaciones científicas
Characteristics of specialists treating hypothyroid patients: the "THESIS" collaborative
Miloš Žarković 1 2 , Roberto Attanasio 3 , Endre V Nagy 4 , Roberto Negro 5 , Enrico Papini 6 , Petros Perros 7 , Chagit Adler Cohen 8 , Ersin Akarsu 9 , Maria Alevizaki 10 , Göksun Ayvaz 11 , Tomasz Bednarczuk 12 , Eszter Berta 4 , Miklos Bodor 4 , Anna Maria Borissova 13 , Mihail Boyanov 14 , Camille Buffet 15 , Maria-Cristina Burlacu 16 , Jasmina Ćirić 1 2 , Juan J Díez 17 18 19 , Harald Dobnig 20 , Valentin Fadeyev 21 , Benjamin C T Field 22 , Eric Fliers 23 , Jacob Stampe Frølich 24 , Dagmar Führer 25 , Juan Carlos Galofré 26 , Tommi Hakala 27 , Jan Jiskra 28 , Peter Kopp 29 , Michael Krebs 30 , Michal Kršek 28 , Martin Kužma 31 , Mikael Lantz 32 , Ivica Lazúrová 33 , Laurence Leenhardt 34 , Vitaliy Luchytskiy 35 , Anne McGowan 36 , Miguel Melo 37 , Saara Metso 38 , Carla Moran 39 40 , Tatyana Morgunova 21 , Tronko Mykola 41 , Biljana Nedeljković Beleslin 1 2 , Dan Alexandru Niculescu 42 , Božidar Perić 43 , Tereza Planck 32 , Catalina Poiana 42 , Francisca Marques Puga 44 , Eyal Robenshtok 45 , Patrick Rosselet 46 , Marek Ruchala 47 , Kamilla Ryom Riis 24 , Alla Shepelkevich 48 , David Unuane 49 , Irfan Vardarli 50 51 , W Edward Visser 52 , Andromachi Vrionidou 53 , Younes R Younes 54 , Elena Yurenya 55 , Laszlo Hegedüs 24
Introduction: Thyroid specialists influence how hypothyroid patients are treated, including patients managed in primary care. Given that physician characteristics influence patient care, this study aimed to explore thyroid specialist profiles and associations with geo-economic factors.
Methods: Thyroid specialists from 28 countries were invited to respond to a questionnaire, Treatment of Hypothyroidism in Europe by Specialists: an International Survey (THESIS). Geographic regions were defined according to the United Nations Statistics Division. The national economic status was estimated using World Bank data on the gross national income per capita (GNI per capita).
Results: 5,695 valid responses were received (response rate 33·0%). The mean age was 49 years, and 65·0% were female. The proportion of female respondents was lowest in Northern (45·6%) and highest in Eastern Europe (77·2%) (p <0·001). Respondent work volume, university affiliation and private practice differed significantly between countries (p<0·001). Age and GNI per capita were correlated inversely with the proportion of female respondents (p<0·01). GNI per capita was inversely related to the proportion of respondents working exclusively in private practice (p<0·011) and the proportion of respondents who treated >100 patients annually (p<0·01).
Discussion: THESIS has demonstrated differences in characteristics of thyroid specialists at national and regional levels, strongly associated with GNI per capita. Hypothyroid patients in middle-income countries are more likely to encounter female thyroid specialists working in private practice, with a high workload, compared to high-income countries. Whether these differences influence the quality of care and patient satisfaction is unknown, but merits further study.
CITA DEL ARTÍCULO Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2023 Nov 7:14:1225202. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2023.1225202
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