COVID-19 outbreak in Norway - Epidemiology, health care utilization and primary care management (CONOPRI)

Primary care is at the very frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the outbreak already has a huge toll on primary care systems. Consequences of a global outbreak on the Norwegian primary care system have previously been demonstrated for the influenza pandemic. Knowledge about primary care management of COVID-19 outbreak, health care utilization and risk factors for severe outcome, can be used to prepare for future outbreaks and improve the patient management. Primary care needs evidence-based knowledge to meet any epidemic at two levels: 1. The system level, which includes plans to handle an overwhelming number of patients, organization of units to avoid transmission to health care workers and other patients, systems for testing, tracing and isolation, as well as patient pathways through the health care system. 2. The clinical level, which includes knowledge about risk factors for severe illness, and mitigation of modifiable risk factors. The primary study objective is to investigate the effect of organization strategies and handling of risk factors for the outcome of patients in primary care during the COVID-19 outbreak. Secondary objectives are to: 1. Identify patient management strategies in primary care and how this is organized in the municipalities in Norway during COVID-19 outbreak. 2. Identify patient management strategies in European countries during the COVID-19 outbreak. 3. Describe patient contacts to out-of-hours (OOH) services and action taken, and to compare the contacts and action taken between municipalities in Norway during COVID-19 outbreak. 4. Examine how the COVID-19 patient utilize the health care system in Norway and identify different trajectories for COVID-19 patient outcome, compared with other patients. 5. Investigate risk factors for severe outcomes of COVID-19 among primary care patients in Norway. Objective 1 and 2 will be answered by questionnaire data from all OOH services in Norway and OOH services in collaborating European countries. Objective 3 will be answered by use of data from the Watchtower Registry with information from seven representative OOH services in Norway. Objective 4 and 5 will be answered by use of linked data from the Norwegian Registry for Primary Health Care (KPR), the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR), the Norwegian surveillance system for communicable diseases (MSIS), the Norwegian Prescription