[Diseases diagnosed at a pneumology unit integrated with its health area. Comparison with historical controls]

An understanding of changes in pulmonology disease patterns observed at a general hospital before and after implantation of a population-based model of health care not only provides useful insight into the diseases treated but also aids adjustment of health care service organization. The aim of this study was to compare data collected after 1992 (when the new system was established) with records kept by the same pulmonology group in earlier years (1974-1986). Data after 1992 described patients attended in Health District 11 by the newly organized pneumologists. For the two periods the most common pneumological diagnoses were chronic air flow obstruction and chronic hypersecretory bronchitis. The most common non pneumological diagnoses were systemic arterial hypertension, obesity, diabetes, liver disease and hiatus hernia/gastroesophageal reflux. The prospective study covered a larger population and was closer to primary care, including as it did patients at clinics unattached to hospitals. In the earlier hospital-based experience the most common diagnoses were acute respiratory infection, chronic air flow obstruction and asthma, apart from those patients referred in whom no respiratory disease was found. With the organizational integration of hospital and health district pulmonology service, contact between patients and specialists has increased. Record systems have been established for a well-defined population to permit better forecasting at less cost and facilitate contact with primary care givers and epidemiological studies.