The pattern of consultations for asthma in a general practice over 5 years

To describe the pattern of consultations for asthma by asthmatic patients in a single general practice over a five year period.

A predominantly European middle class population in Karori, Wellington. Retrospective data on consultations for asthma identified by set criteria were obtained from computer records from the 1 November 1986 to the 30 October 1991.

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 asthma (39%) compared to households with patients who had not been admitted (19%). One hundred and forty six patients (12.5%) had never attended the general practice for consultations for asthma. There were 3844 consultations for asthma over 5 years with 9% of consultations occurring 1 to 7 days after a given consultation. The overall mean number of daily consultations for asthma was 2.11 per day. There was a skewed distribution of consultation for asthma per day of week with 21.5% of all consultations for asthma occurring on a Monday. There was an uneven distribution of consultations for asthma per month of year with the least of all consultations for asthma occurring in January (4.9%) and the peak occurring in June (11.5%).

There was a wide variation in the consultation behaviour for asthma. Influences on this consulting behaviour included the severity of asthma, having been admitted, the day of week, and the month of year. Continuity of care is a unique feature of general practice so that patients attend their general practitioner over many years for managing and recording their illnesses. The value of computerised records in general practice is that more details about consultations are available for research.