ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Accidents have been largely unstudied in the area of Primary Care. They are one of the most frequent motives for consultation in the Emergency Services and the first assistance that accident victims receive is usually in primary care centres. Establishment of the incidence and clinicoepidemiological characteristics of the accidents attended in a Basic Health Area can provide important information about which of these could be susceptible to preventive actions. DESIGN: descriptive study. LOCATION: primary care: SAMPLE: all the patients attended for accidents (389) in the Primary Care Centre between October 1998 and May 1999. VARIABLES: age, sex, place of the accident, type of lesion, location of lesions, agents involved, intentionality, complementary tests, treatment and referral. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: estimation of means, standard deviation, proportions and 95% confidence intervals. RESULTS: Incidence: 4.1% (CI95%: 3.7-4.5%). Sex: males 59% (CI95%: 54.2-64%) and females 40.9% (CI95%: 36-45.8%). Age: younger than 20 years, 50.4% (CI95%: 45.4-55.4%). Most common activity associated with accidents: leisure 24.4% (CI95%: 20.2-28.7%). PLACE: home 36.2% (C95%: 31.5-41%). Most frequent lesion: contusion 39.6% (CI95%: 34.7-44.4%). Most frequent site of lesion: arms 37.5% (CI95%: 32.7-42.3%). Most common agent involved: tools and machinery 15.9% (CI95%: 12.3-19.6%). Of these, 92.2% (CI95%: 89.3-94.7%) were accidental. Type of visit: 83.3% (CI95%: 79.6-87%) were attended as emergencies; 79.5% (CI95%: 75.4-83.5%) received treatment with dressings and/or medication. Of these, 9.8% (CI95%: 6.8-12.7%) required referral to a hospital, 13.3% (CI95%: 10-16.7%) required complementary tests. CONCLUSIONS: Most accidents occur in young people and educational campaigns to prevent accidents and directed towards this population group are clearly needed.
