[Obesity in the province of León. Differing criteria, different prevalences]. / La obesidad en la provincia de León. Distintos criterios, diferentes prevalencias.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of obesity among the adult population of our province. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. SITE. León Province. PATIENTS OR OTHERS PARTICIPANTS: This was a random sample with 572 individuals over 17. They were picked from the electoral register. The confidence level was 95%, with a 3.5% length of interval. They were selected by means of proportional, multi-stage stratified sampling. The Hansen method was used for a subsequent survey of the cases missed. MAIN MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Socio-demographic data were collected, and weight and size measured, using standard procedures. Those who had a Quetelet index > or = 30 kg/m2 or with a relative weight > or = 120%, in line with different weight tables, were considered to be obese. Under the first criterion there was a 23.25% prevalence of obesity (CI: 19.79-26.71). The second showed long variations, running from 59.92% (CI: 55.64-64.20) to 16.17% (CI: 13.06-19.28). CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of obesity among adults in our province is above that in other zones of Spain and other countries. The calculation of relative weight is not possible in an important number of cases because age or size are not properly included in the reference table. The criteria for defining someone as obese need to be unified in order to be able to make comparisons between different surveys.

[The usefulness of the Peak Flow Meter for assessing patients with acute respiratory disease]. / Utilidad del "Peak Flow Meter" para la valoración de enfermos respiratorios agudos.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the utility of the extrahospital use of "Peak Flow Meter" (PFM) in patients with an acute respiratory disease. 70 patients were studied. PFM, arterial gasometry, physical examination and dyspnea evaluation were performed on all of them. The PFM were posteriorly transformed into the rate related to the ideal result, following the Nunn and Gregg equation (1989). We found an association between the PFM rate and the different arterial blood gas test results, and a relation to the degree of dyspnea and the listening of sibilant rales. There was more significance with the rate of PFM than with the PFM transformed in all cases, and only association was found between arterial blood changes and PFM. We concluded that all patients with an acute respiratory disease with a rate of PFM greater than 50% should be evaluated carefully because of the probability of existing hypoxemia, and those with rate of less than 20% must be referred to hospital.

[Hospital emergencies in the catchment area of León. A study of the repercussions of primary care]. / Urgencias hospitalarias en el área sanitaria de León. Estudio de la repercusión de la atención primaria.

The filter role of primary health care on the attendance to hospital emergency services was evaluated in view of the saturation of the latter. It was demonstrated that those patients who had not previously attended primary care services (40.3%) had a higher rate of problems for which emergency attention was considered unjustified (51.64%), with the consequent performance deterioration. In the group of patients who were referred to the hospital by a physician, the highest rates of examination of the patient, degree of justification for care, and diagnostic agreement with our center were found among the youngest physicians. As a whole, the filter role of primary care in our area is clearly higher than that from other similar studies, although optimal levels have not yet been achieved.