Monthly incidence was derived from the number of individuals diagnosed with a long-term condition for the first time, each month. Age at the earliest found diagnosis date was categorised (<20, 20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, 80–89, ≥90 years). Sex was male/female. Ethnic groups were analysed using harmonised Office for National Statistics (ONS) categories (White/Black/Asian/Mixed/other/unknown). Deprivation was derived from the LSOA code at the time of diagnosis mapped to the 2019 Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation15 and categorised in quintiles (1, most deprived, to 5, least deprived).
Frailty was based on an internationally established cumulative deficit model that utilises an electronic Frailty Index (eFI).16 18 (link) eFI scores were used to categorise individuals as: fit, mild, moderate, or severely frail using 10 years of previous WLGP data from date of diagnosis. Individuals without sufficient coverage of GP data were assigned to a missing category. Learning disability status (yes/no) was identified for the study cohort using Read v2 codes (Supplementary Table S4). Socioeconomic categories with one to four counts were rounded to five to prevent accidental disclosure and the excess counts deducted from an unknown/missing/adjacent category.
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