[Care for drug addicts in primary care].
OBJECTIVE
21 drug addicts' reasons for attending (RA) primary care clinics were studied.


METHODS
A six-month long prospective study. SITE: An attendance group, as in Insalud's traditional model, from an area of Madrid with a high level of drug use.


METHODS
Everybody known to be dependent on drugs and who could be followed up. 9 out of 21 drug addicts were HIV+.


RESULTS
Out of the 51 RA's established, the most common one was high temperature (27.4%), even when the HIV+ (37.5%) and HIV- (26.3%) groups were considered separately, though the number of consultations for high temperature was significantly higher (p < 0.01) among HIV+ patients. Other important RA's were those arising from drug abuse (efforts to give up; request for substitution therapy etc.) (25%). The total number of consultations with drug addicts represented 2.8% of the total number of consultations with the population as a whole during the same period of time.


CONCLUSIONS
The high demand placed by drug addicts on the Primary Care network is confirmed by this study. High temperature and problems arising from drug abuse were the most common RA's. High temperature was the main RA both in HIV+ and HIV- patients.
Martínez García
F
F
Sebastián
S
S
Martínez Marogna
A
A
D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D015497:HIV-1; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*