Too many patients with Lyme disease are being diagnosed and treated through emergency hospital admission, researchers warned today.
Incidence of the disease has increased by nearly seven times in the last 20 years, according to a study reported in BMC Public Health.
This may partly be because of increased awareness – but 30% of patients hospitalised with the disease in England are admitted through A&E departments, researchers found. This rises to 67.6% in Wales.
Researchers set out to analyse characteristics of patients, studying more than 2,000 cases. The findings show the majority of patients are women from relatively wealthy neighbourhoods in the south and west of England.
Researcher Dr John Tulloch, from the UK National Institute of Health Research Health Protection Research Unit, said: "It would be unlikely that the numbers of patients admitted in our study have acute/severe presentations of disease that require immediate hospital attendance.
"Further work is needed to explore why so many patients would seek treatment at a hospital when, for the majority of cases, management could occur at primary care level.
"Being aware of the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease is important so that patients can receive early diagnosis and treatment from their family doctor. Symptoms typically develop up to three weeks after being bitten by a tick and include a spreading circular red rash or flu-like symptoms."
Tulloch et al. Characteristics and patient pathways of Lyme disease patients: a retrospective analysis of hospital episode data in England and Wales (1998-2015) BMC Public Health 15 August 2019; doi: 10.1186/s12889-019-7245-8
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