[Study of primary care health needs through family health diagnosis]

To assess the health needs of the eligible public population of the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS).

Observational, descriptive, transversal study.

Family Medicine Unit number 8 of the IMSS, in the city of Tlaxcala, Mexico.

A sample of 1200 families using multi-stage sampling, between October 1999 and March 2000.

The designed and validated questionnaire on "Family health diagnosis" was used.

A 19.2% of the families had a very low socio-economic level, and 14.9% of subjects were not entitled to Social Security. Functional illiteracy in at least one member was found in 12.6% of the families. According to the family Apgar, 93% of families were functional and two-thirds of the families were classified as nuclear. About 51.1% and 36.9% of women used programs for detection of cervical/uterine and breast cancer, respectively. Only 25% of the adult population underwent the detection tests for diabetes mellitus and hypertension and 10.9% had a chronic disease. 56.4% of families considered the quality of health care good, and only 18.13% were satisfied with the care received.

Identification of health needs through diagnosis of family health is useful as a basis for establishing a hierarchy of problems as well as for developing health programs that may facilitate greater equity in attention.