Differences between Practice Patterns of Conventional and Naturopathic GPs in Germany

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• General Practice
• Pharmacotherapy

Background:

• Limited research compares practice patterns of general practitioners (GPs) with and without additional naturopathy training.
• Understanding these differences is crucial for patient care and healthcare system integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess and compare practice patterns of conventional GPs and GPs with additional naturopathy qualifications.
• To identify differences in phytopharmaceutical prescriptions, referrals, and hospitalizations.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of routine data from 41 GPs (31 naturopathic, 11 conventional) and 180,789 patients (2009-2014).
• Mixed-effects Poisson regression models used to analyze determinants of prescriptions, referrals, and hospitalizations.
• Explanatory variables included GP qualification, patient age group, and sex, with interaction effects.

Main Results:

• Naturopathic GPs showed higher rates of phytopharmaceutical prescriptions compared to conventional GPs (p<0.034).
• No independent association found for non-phytopharmaceutical prescriptions, referrals, or hospitalizations.
• Significant interaction effects between GP qualification, patient age, and sex were observed for prescriptions and referrals (all p<0.001).

Conclusions:

• GPs with additional naturopathy training generally exhibit higher rates of phytopharmaceutical prescriptions.
• Practice pattern variations between conventional and naturopathic GPs are influenced by patient age and sex.
• The magnitude of observed differences in practice patterns appears to be relatively small.