[Proposal for a new classification of long-term treatment in primary health care]. / Propuesta de una nueva categorización para tratamientos prolongados en atención primaria.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the suitability of medication for an automatised dispensing system (ADS) for prescriptions by means of an indicator specially designed for this study. DESIGN: A descriptive, crossover study of the medicines contained in our ADS. SETTING: Raval-Sud Basic Health District, Barcelona. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The indicator was designed and its categories determined through the interaction of the following variables for each medicine: its most usual indication, length of treatment, intrinsic value and the theoretical source of prescription. Then all the medicines included in the ADS were codified and analysed with a computer program. The 728 analysed were classified in 8 different categories: those for acute pathology (32%), for subacute or acute pathology requiring long-term treatment (potentially chronic indication) (9%), for chronic pathology controlled at the primary care level (22%), for chronic pathology controlled in the hospital context (12%), for mental pathology (8%), for chronic pathology well controlled but with a low intrinsic value (3%), medicines of low intrinsic value for chronic pathology (degenerative pathology) without recognised pharmacological alternatives which the family doctor or specialist can prescribe (14%). CONCLUSIONS: If medicines were better defined and codified, the proposed indicator would facilitate rapid discrimination of different groups of drugs' suitability or otherwise for ADS.

[Chronology of complications from diabetes in adults. The Raval Sud study]. / Cronología de las complicaciones en la diabetes del adulto. El estudio Raval Sud.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to accomplish an analysis of the prevalence of the diabetic complications in relationship to the evolution years of the Diabetes Mellitus Non-Insulin-Dependent (DMNID). RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: It is designing a transverse descriptive study through a random sampling among the population with DMNID of our center (n = 315). In addition to the age, the sex and the year of the diagnostic, is studied the presence of microangiopathy (retinopathy and nephropathy), macroangiopathy (peripheric, cerebral and coronary disease) and of the complications by diabetic neuropathy (NP) (peripheral and vegetative). RESULTS: The prevalence global obtained for each complication was the following: Retinopathy: 33%, Nephropathy: 17%, peripheric vasculopathy: 21%, cerebral vasculopathy: 10%, coronary disease: 14%, peripheral neuropathy: 40%, vegetative neuropathy: 20%. It is analysing the relationship among the presence of the complications with the age, the sex and the years from the diagnosis of the DMNID. CONCLUSIONS: Except in the coronary disease (possibly by the mortality of the process), the other complications showed a clear increase to the evolution years of the DMNID. 52% of the diabetics were already presenting some complication in the moment of the diagnostic.