OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of corticosteroid infiltrations in osteoarticular and tendinous pathology in Primary Care. DESIGN: Observational and descriptive study. SETTING: La Unión Health Center, a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Murcia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All patients older than 14 years subjected to one or more infiltrations from 1-1-1997 to 1-5-1998 were included. The following variables were analysed using information obtained from the patient's medical records: age, sex, condition treated, evolution time, previous treatment, number of infiltrations, results and complications. Descriptive statistics including frequency and distribution tables were calculated. The 70.3% of the 138 cases are women, the mean age is 57.7 years. Most infiltrations were performed for shoulder conditions (60.1%). The mean time of evolution in these cases was 90.9 +/- 13.9 days. Only 10.9% of patients hadn't received any previous treatment. The mean number of infiltrations is 1.5 +/- 0.7 and the middle is 1. Symptoms improved in 82.62% of the cases, just completely (40.6%) or partially (42%). Only in 17.4% cases failed the intervention. Only a complication was registered, one case of residual pigmentation. CONCLUSIONS: The local corticosteroids infiltration is a useful technique in primary care because of a high effectivity, easy management, low cost and few complications.
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of corticosteroid infiltrations in osteoarticular and tendinous pathology in Primary Care. DESIGN: Observational and descriptive study. SETTING: La Unión Health Center, a town of 14,000 inhabitants in Murcia. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: All patients older than 14 years subjected to one or more infiltrations from 1-1-1997 to 1-5-1998 were included. The following variables were analysed using information obtained from the patient's medical records: age, sex, condition treated, evolution time, previous treatment, number of infiltrations, results and complications. Descriptive statistics including frequency and distribution tables were calculated. The 70.3% of the 138 cases are women, the mean age is 57.7 years. Most infiltrations were performed for shoulder conditions (60.1%). The mean time of evolution in these cases was 90.9 +/- 13.9 days. Only 10.9% of patients hadn't received any previous treatment. The mean number of infiltrations is 1.5 +/- 0.7 and the middle is 1. Symptoms improved in 82.62% of the cases, just completely (40.6%) or partially (42%). Only in 17.4% cases failed the intervention. Only a complication was registered, one case of residual pigmentation. CONCLUSIONS: The local corticosteroids infiltration is a useful technique in primary care because of a high effectivity, easy management, low cost and few complications.
Authors: V López-Marina; G Pizarro-Romero; N Costa-Bardají; A Mata-Navarro; J R Vázquez-Blanco Journal: Aten Primaria Date: 2005-12 Impact factor: 1.137