[The cardiology consultation in a health-service area hospital. The clinical aspects and the demand for diagnostic procedures]. / La consulta de cardiología en un hospital de área sanitaria. Aspectos clínicos y demanda de exploraciones diagnósticas.

Four consecutive years (1987-1990) outpatients attendance at a cardiology clinic was recorded in a district hospital with a catchment area of 200,000 inhabitants. The aim being to identify and evaluate the demand for cardiology consultations. A system for recording diagnoses was developed, based on the WONCA. The total number of consultations was 26,273, 27% being new patients, 78% of whom were referred by family doctors and health centers. Of the total, 57% were male. The most common age groups being from 60 to 69 (25%) and from 50 to 59 (23%); 22% were over 69. In 13.7% of the consultations, the find diagnosis was of "healthy hearts", in 16.7% valvular heart disease, in 31.5% ischaemic heart disease, in 15.1% arrhythmias, in 8.4% hypertension, and the remainder were other diseases. We carried out 4,406 echocardiograms, 1,408 exercise tests and 511 Holter monitoring traces. There were 322 direct hospital admissions, and 6,094 discharges in the four years period. We consider this type of records to be useful organizing cardiology outpatients clinics, analyzing the demand, and planning the use of health care resources, as well as estimating future needs and assessing quality of care.