Utilization of primary care versus specialized care in children with and without chronic illness. A population-based study.
Children's utilization of curative care was studied to analyse the division of responsibilities between undifferentiated primary care and specialized care. All chronically ill (n = 510), a control group (n = 287) and the total population 0-15 years of age (n = 6080) in a primary care district were studied using register data. Chronically ill children comprised 8.4% of the total child population and were registered for 1/10 of the primary health care visits, 1/3 of the specialized visits, 1/3 of the hospitalizations and 1/2 of the in-patient days of all children. The yearly ambulatory visits were 3.7/child in the chronically ill and 1.5/child in the control group, of which 1/3 and 2/3, respectively, were to primary care. Utilization of specialized care increased with disability. Chronically ill children visited primary care mainly for acute respiratory infections but seldom for allergic or other chronic conditions.
Westbom
L
L
Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Lund, Dalby, Sweden.
Kornfält
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002662:Child Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002908:Chronic Disease; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D013548:Sweden