Having access to more GPs adds 50 days’ life expectancy to those living in communities with lots of primary care doctors compared with those in areas with fewer doctors, a US study suggests.

Each 10 additional primary care physicians per 100,000 people in the US was associated with a 51.5-day increase in life expectancy during the decade 2005-2015, according to a study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine in California.