title: Frequent use of primary health care service in Greenland: an opportunity for undiagnosed disease case-finding.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate the age- and gender-specific consultation rates of patients who availed primary health care service in Greenland and to analyse contact patterns among patients in Nuuk.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational and cross-sectional register study using data captured from the medical records.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of patients specified by age and gender who had contacted the primary health care centres within the last year was identified using a statistic module applied to the electronic medical records system. The population as it was on the 1st of January 2011 was used as the background population. The age- and gender-specific consultation rates were calculated. Review of most recent contact was performed in a subsample of patients from Nuuk, and information of the type of contact and diagnoses was obtained.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Eighty-three percent of the population in Greenland had been in contact with the primary health care centre within the last year. Females were more frequent users than males. A subsample of 400 patients in Nuuk was identified. Personal contact was the most frequent type of consultation (75.8%), followed by telephone (14.8%) and e-mail (9.8%) consultations. Musculoskeletal symptoms accounted for the most frequent bases for diagnoses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More than 80% of the whole population has been in contact with the primary health care system within the last year. This indicates that opportunistic case-finding of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, etc. providing a possible strategy for decreasing the number of undiagnosed cases.
authors.affiliation: Queen Ingrid Health Care Centre, Nuuk, Greenland. MILP@peqqik.gl
authors.forename: Michael Lynge
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rolskov
authors.forename: Jytte Lindskov
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Jacobsen
authors.forename: Anna Rask
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Lynge
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006116:Greenland; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017678:Sex Distribution; D055815:Young Adult