BACKGROUND: @entity308 is a leading cause of disease and disability internationally, and is responsible for many primary care consultations. Little is known about the quality of primary care for @entity308 in the UK. AIM: To determine the prevalence of good-quality primary care for @entity308 , and to analyse variations in quality by @entity1 and practice characteristics. DESIGN OF STUDY: Retrospective observational study. SETTING: Eighteen general practices in England. METHOD: Medical records were examined for 279 @entity1 . The percentage of eligible @entity1 diagnosed with @entity308 who received the care specified by each of six quality indicators in 2002 and 2004 was assessed. Associations between quality achievement and age, sex, @entity1 deprivation score, timepoint, and practice size were estimated using logistic regression. RESULTS: There was very wide variation in achievement of different indicators (range 1-97%). Achievement was higher for indicators referring to treatment and follow-up than for indicators referring to history taking. Achievement of quality indicators was low overall (37%). Quality did not vary significantly by @entity1 or practice characteristics. CONCLUSION: There is substantial scope for improvement in the quality of primary care for @entity308 , if the highest achievement rates could be matched for all indicators. Given the lack of variation by practice characteristics, system-level and educational interventions may be the best ways to improve quality. The equitable distribution of quality by @entity1 deprivation score is an important achievement that may be challenging to maintain as quality improves.

Recorded quality of care for XXXX in general practice: an observational study.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['participants', 'patients', 'patient'] @entity308 :: ('MESH:D003866', 'Disease') :: ['Depression', 'depression']
@entity308 :: (MESH:D003866,Disease) :: ['depression']
