A nationwide analysis of 350 million patient encounters reveals a high volume of mental-health conditions in primary care

How many primary-care encounters are devoted to mental-health conditions compared with physical-health conditions? Here we analyzed Norway's nationwide administrative primary-care records, extracting all doctor-patient encounters occurring during 14 years (2006-2019) for the population aged 0-100 years. Encounters were recorded according to the International Classification of Primary Care. We compared the volume of mental-health encounters against volumes for conditions in multiple different body systems. A total of 4,875,722 patients generated 354,516,291 encounters. One in 9 encounters (11.7%) involved a mental-health condition. Only musculoskeletal conditions accounted for a greater share of primary-care physicians' attention. The volume of mental-health encounters in primary care equaled encounters for infections, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and exceeded encounters for pain, injuries, metabolic, digestive, skin, urological, reproductive and sensory conditions. Primary-care physicians frequently treat complex mental-health conditions in patients of every age. These physicians may have a more important role in preventing the escalation of mental-health problems than heretofore appreciated.