[Population study of users of long term-treatment cards in an urban health center. A system for the evaluation and improvement of the quality of prescription].

The results of the analysis of the Prolonged Treatment Cards (PTC) for 1988 are presented. The total PTC cases for which care was provided numbered 15,643, which means a 24.3% reduction in the volume of demands for medical attention, with an average decrease of 10.5 patients/day in each one of the family practices. The breakdown of the PTC into age groups revealed that it is the patients over 60 years of age who are in possession of the greatest number of these cards (58.8%). Essential hypertension (40.5%) is the most frequent diagnosis, followed by diabetes (13.8%) and osteoarthritis (13.3%). By subgroups according to treatment, the most frequently used medications are antihypertensives, with diuretics being the ones ranked in the top position (40.72%). The existing discrepancy between the high degree to which benzodiazepines are prescribed and the low percentage of cases diagnosed which can be treated using said medications is also stressed. The conclusion is drawn that the PTC's are of great use to patients and to the Primary Care Teams.