THE PATTERN OF CONSULTATIONS FOR ASTHMA IN A GENERAL-PRACTICE OVER 5 YEARS

Aim. To describe the pattern of consultations for asthma by asthmatic patients in a single general practice over a five year period. Methods . A predominantly European middle class population in Karori, Wellingt on. Retrospective data on consultations for asthma identified by set c riteria were obtained from computer records from the 1 November 1986 t o the 30 October 1991. Results. 1173 patients were studied. Fifty one patients (4.3%) had been admitted to hospital. The admission rate was 17.2 per 1000 consultations for asthma per year. More households with patients who had been admitted had other members with diagnosis of ast hma (39%) compared to households with patients who had not been admitt ed (19%). One hundred and forty six patients (12.5%) had never attende d the general practice for consultations for asthma. There were 3844 c onsultations for asthma over 5 years with 9% of consultations occurrin g 1 to 7 days after a given consultation. The overall mean number of d aily consultations for asthma was 2.11 per day. There was a skewed dis tribution of consultation for asthma per day of week with 21.5% of all consultations for asthma occurring on a Monday. There was an uneven d istribution of consultations for asthma per month of year with the lea st of all consultations for asthma occurring in January (4.9%) and the peak occurring in June (11.5%). Conclusion. There was a wide variatio n in the consultation behaviour for asthma. Influences on this consult ing behaviour included the severity of asthma, having been admitted, t he day of week, and the month of year. Continuity of care is a unique feature of general practice so that patients attend their general prac titioner over many years for managing and recording their illnesses. T he value of computerised records in general practice is that more deta ils about consultations available for research.