General practitioners' office consultations with elderly patients – diagnoses and prescriptions: A report from the Møre & Romsdal Prescription Study

Study results: Conclusion: Key words: This paper is based on a previous Norwegian publication: Straand J, Sandvik H, Rokstad K. 10 850 kontorkonsultasjonermed eldre pasienter i allmennpraksis. Fra diagnose-resept-undersøkelsen i Møre og Romsdal. Tidsskr Nor Lægeforen1997; 117: 3980-3984. With permission.health services for the aged; family practice; drugsIn the context of quality assurance large benefits may be gained even if focus is put on ratherfew diagnoses and drugs.60% of the consultations involved female patients, mean age was 74 years. One of threeconsultations were for new diagnoses, two thirds were follow-ups. The most common diagnostic groups werecardiovascular (28%), musculoskeletal (13%), psychiatric (8%) and respiratory diseases (8%). Almost 10% ofall consultations were for hypertension. Drugs were prescribed during 56% of all consultations. 27% of allprescriptions were for cardiovascular drugs, and 25% were for the central nervous system. The 20 most commondiagnoses constituted more than half of all the diagnoses, and the ten most common drugs (therapeuticgroups) constituted almost 70% of all prescriptions.In 1988 and 1989 the general practitioners recorded all encounters with patients over a periodof two months. The participation rate was close to 100%, and we report data from 10,850 office consultationswith elderly patients (65 years and older).The Norwegian county of Møre and Romsdal.Cross-sectional survey.To analyse office consultations with elderly people in general practice: reason for encounter,diagnostic indications for prescribing drugs, and what drugs are prescribed for the different diagnoses.ABSTRACT