Arterial hypertension and family care: care provided to hypertensive individuals in a small municipality in Southern Brazil.
OBJECTIVE
Based on the analysis of indicators which express the rationale of the actions of the program, we developed a cross-sectional study to assess the performance of a Family Healthcare Team as regards the care provided to individuals with arterial hypertension living in a small municipality.


METHODS
The study carried out was based on the analysis of the records (Record A) of SIAB (Primary Care Information System) of 418 individuals suffering from arterial hypertension, of 351 records stored in the primary healthcare center, and of 376 interviews with individuals living in the area under the team's care, in the year 2003. The following variables were studied: gender, age, family income, housing conditions, health services used, presence of diabetes mellitus, coverage and concentration of care.


RESULTS
Women above 60 years of age prevailed. They were 65.7% of the cases. The arterial hypertension prevalence rate was 18%, and was different for both genders: for women it was 22.3%. The coverage was 64.1% for appointments with doctors, 32.4% for appointments with nurses, and 36.4% for home visits. The information on files revealed that 25.8% of hypertensive individuals did not receive care in 2003 and 52.7% did not receive care in the last semester. The concentration of care was below the recommendation.


CONCLUSIONS
The information showed that the organization of health care does not reflect the rationale of health surveillance in that services focus mostly on meeting spontaneous demand, which in turn reflects unpreparedness as to the use of information systems for the planning and evaluation of actions.
de Sousa
Luciano Burigo
LB
Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Londrina, PR.
de Souza
Regina Kazue Tanno
RK
Scochi
Maria José
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001938:Brazil; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires