[Profile of the over-user of a health center].
OBJECTIVE
To find the sociodemographic and family characteristics of our Health Centre's over-user, along with the connection between psychological malaise, family dysfunction and greater or lesser attendance.


METHODS
We carried out a descriptive crossover study, after a prior simple random sampling.


METHODS
La Felguera Health Centre (Asturias) in 1993.


METHODS
We studied 276 over-users, defining as such someone who consulted 6 or more times during the year of the study (percentage > 75), with bureaucratic and scheduled visits being excluded.


METHODS
We used personal interviews with questionnaires to find: Family function (applying the family Apgar Test); psychological malaise (using the Goldberg General Health questionnaire in its reduced 28-item version); and sociodemographic characteristics (with a test composed by ourselves).


RESULTS
Average age of the over-user was 54 +/- 19. They were mainly women (72.1%). 51.1% were house-wives and only 25.75% had more than a primary education. 67.8% belonged to nuclear families and 8.3% to dysfunctional families. We found psychological malaise in 40.7%, with a statistically significant relationship between this and women (p < 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The profile of the over-user of our health centre is a middle-aged housewife with a low level of education, who is part of a nuclear family. A high proportion suffer psychological malaise, but family dysfunction is not determinant.
Llorente Alvarez
S
S
Centro de Salud La Felguera, Asturias.
López Ruiz
T
T
García Lavandera
L J
LJ
Alonso Fernández
M
M
Alonso Arias
P
P
Muñoz Baragaño
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006300:Health Services Misuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010361:Patients / Q000523:psychology*; D013030:Spain
Perfil del hiperfrecuentador de un centro de salud.