TY - JOUR T1 - The GP’s role in promoting winter wellness JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 53 LP - 53 DO - 10.3399/bjgp17X688909 VL - 67 IS - 655 AU - Daniel Gordon AU - Angie Bone AU - Richard Pebody AU - Simon de Lusignan Y1 - 2017/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/67/655/53.abstract N2 - Every year in the UK there is a seasonal peak in morbidity and mortality during the coldest months. GPs have an important role in promoting winter wellness and we would like to advocate GPs placing more emphasis on a proactive approach designed to reduce risk among vulnerable individuals and families. Although some of the activities we already undertake contribute to this goal, others fall short, and few of us promote winter wellness in a coordinated way across our health and social care community. To maximise our effectiveness, primary care teams should be aware of the modifiable risk factors for excess winter mortality and morbidity; and actively manage these as part of planned as well as opportunistic care.The Office for National Statistics calculates Excess Winter Mortality (EWM), the difference between the number of deaths in the coldest months, December to March, compared with the average number of deaths in the preceding autumn and following spring.1 EWM fluctuates annually due to differences in weather conditions and circulating influenza viruses. Winter 2014–2015 was a particularly bad year with almost 44 000 excess winter deaths, largely attributed to the circulation of a drifted influenza A(H3N2) strain that particularly affected older people and was the cause of many care home outbreaks. Provisional data from 2015–2016 estimate 24 300 excess winter deaths, less than the previous year. Although excess winter deaths are due to a range of factors, influenza is an important contributor. The 2015/2016 influenza season was dominated by the circulation of A(H1N1)pdm09, where the impact falls predominately on younger people. In addition, the influenza vaccine has been a better match to circulating strains and effectiveness has been greater: 34.3% (95% CI = 17.8 to 47.5) versus 54.5% (95% CI = 41.6 to 64.5) against influenza A(H3N2) for … ER -