Actividades preventivas y esquizofrenia. ¿Lo hacemos bien?

Abstract

Background: it is remarkable the frequency with which schizophrenic patients make use of Primary Health Care facilities. Are we making profitable use of it -so that we can take preventive measures- or on the contrary, does it strictly become a routine? Objective: to know if the preventive measures which are being carried out among the schizophrenic population are the same as those taken among general population. Design: study of cases-controls. Material and methods: cases (n=36): schizophrenics > 15 years old. Controls (n=72): random selection from data bases, arranged in pairs by age-sex. Variables: entry of medical records/particulars, frequency of visits, preventive measures (weight, height, influenza vaccine, tetanus vaccine, blood pressure, cholesterol level, alcohol and tobacco -according to PAPPS recommendations) from 1993-98; data collection made in May-June 1999. Statistical exploitation: SPSS, descriptive statistics of variables, Chi-square or analysis of bivariate analysis, odds ratio for association measures. Results: the preventive measures registered -with the exception of tobacco consumption- show better results in women; better weight register (p=0.01), height (p=0.07), alcohol consumption (p=0.04), better ratio of vaccination against influenza (p=0.006) and tetanus (p=0.03), and better results of cholesterol screening (p=0.09) and blood pressure (p=0.005). The differences between cases and controls appearing in the register of preventive measures are not statistically significant, except for a better register of enolic habits (p=0.04) in controls. Women are more frequent users (6.8; DE:9.8) than men (2.8; DE:3.2) (p=0.02). The highest rate of visits is closely related to a better register of vaccination against influenza (p=0.01), cholesterol screening (p=0.05), weight (p=0.02), height (p=0.04) and alcohol consumption (p=0.03). Conclusions: no differences have been observed in the practice of preventive measures among schizophrenic patients and general population, the register of both being very low.