ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To find the clinical condition and motives for consultation of HIV + patients seen in our Health Centre. DESIGN: This was an observational and retrospective study. SITE. The study was carried out in the Primary Care context, in the Natahoyo Health Centre (Gijón). PATIENTS AND OTHERS PARTICIPANTS: The clinical histories of 26 HIV + patients registered at the Health Centre were studied. These supposed a total of 387 consultations from the day they were diagnosed as seropositive to the 31 August, 1991, or until their death. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: The 387 consultations recorded broke down into a average of 14.8 consultations per patient (SD 12.7). 43% due to a request for detoxification. Only 5.5% of patients were referred to the second level. In line with the classifications of the W.H.O., 14 patients (56%) would be in stage I; 3 (12%) in stage II; 3 (12%) in stage III; and 5 (20%) in stage IV. CONCLUSIONS: HIV + patients often attend our Health Centre, but mainly for bureaucratic reasons. Consultations due to illness tend to be for minor pathologies, which are almost always treated successfully in the Centre itself. The WHO's classifications were found to be useful for assessing the stage of each HIV + patient at the Primary Care level.
