| Frequent attenders in primary health care: A cross-sectional study of frequent attenders’ psychosocial and family factors, chronic diseases and reasons for encounter in a Finnish health centre | ||
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The aim of this cross-sectional study was, firstly, to assess the prevalence of frequent attendance and the use of health care services in primary and secondary health care frequent attenders account for. Secondly, we aimed to determine frequent attenders’ chronic diseases and reasons for encounter in a Finnish health centre. Furthermore, the study aimed to determine the associations of social, psychological and family factors with frequent attendance in primary health care.
The study was carried out in the health centre of Oulainen. The patients who had eight or more consultations with physicians in the health centre during one year were defined as frequent attenders. A sample of 304 frequent attenders, including all of the frequent attenders aged 15 years or older in Oulainen during the year 1994 and an equal number of randomly selected age- and sex-matched controls constituted the study population.
The data were collected from the annual statistics of the Oulainen Health District and the Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District, from the medical records of the health centre, and from postal questionnaires. All the medical records were examined by the author. The postal questionnaire was sent to all members of the study population. The response rate was 75.6% for frequent attenders and 74.0% for control subjects. Half of the original sample (every second subject selected from the lists of frequent attenders and controls in the date of birth order) were invited to participate in a personal interview. Two trained nurses interviewed 113 frequent attenders and 107 controls.