title: [Profile of the over-user of a health center].
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Salud La Felguera, Asturias.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Llorente Alvarez
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: López Ruiz
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: García Lavandera
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alonso Fernández
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Alonso Arias
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muñoz Baragaño
mesh_terms: 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
vernacular_title: Perfil del hiperfrecuentador de un centro de salud.