High- and Low-risk Actinic Keratosis Referrals to Secondary Care

Active, not recruiting

• Conditions: Actinic Keratoses

• Registration Number: NCT05976061
• Lead Sponsor: Maastricht University Medical Center

Brief Summary

This study evaluates the implementation of the General Practitioners guidelines 'Suspicious Skin Lesions' and investigated whether their publication and implementation has led to a reduction in the proportion of referrals of low-risk patients with actinic keratosis to secondary care, after publication of the General Practitioners guidelines and implementation activities.

Detailed Description

In the Dutch healthcare system, patients are first examined by the general practitioner who decides whether a referral to a dermatologist is indicated. Both general practitioners and dermatologists can diagnose and treat patients with actinic keratosis. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish which patients the general practitioner should refer to a dermatologist and which patients are suitable to be treated by the general practitioner.

This retrospective data study evaluates the proportion of low risk actinic keratosis patients in 2019 en 2018.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2021-03-01
• Study First Submitted: 2023-07-20
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-08-03
• Study First Posted: 2023-08-04
• Primary Completion: 2023-09-01
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-02
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-04
• Study Completion: 2025-12-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 3379

Inclusion Criteria

• patients of 18 years and older
• referred to dermatologist for suspicion of actinic keratosis and diagnosed as actinic keratosis by the dermatologist
• treated at MaastrichtUMC+ or TergooiHospital

Exclusion Criteria

• different diagnosis than actinic keratosis
• referred by a different specialist than the general practitioner
• referred with multiple problems
• referred for a second opinion
• if the patients was treated as different diagnosis than actinic keratosis by general practitioner

Study & Design

• Study Type: OBSERVATIONAL
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in proportion of low-risk actinic keratosis patients among all actinic keratosis patients.	2018 compared to 2019 (2 years)	The change in proportion of low-risk actinic keratosis patients among all actinic keratosis patients referred by the general practitioner to the dermatologist. The definition of low-risk actinic keratosis patients was based on the General Practitioners guidelines 'Suspicious skin lesions' (published in 2017). Patients were defined as low-risk when they were not immunocompromised, did not have a cutaneous malignancy in their medical history, did not have previous treatment or if they did not have extensive lesions.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Ellen Oyen; 🇳🇱 Maastricht, Netherlands