Access of hypertension and/or diabetes patients to healthcare services in Baixada Santista.

Arterial Hypertension (AH) and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) are considered a worldwide epidemics whose control poses a challenge to health care services. Within the National Health System, the Family Health Program currently has the dual role of being a system gateway and reference structure. Bearing in mind this scenario, this study assessed the access of AH and DM patients to health care and therapeutic drugs. A household survey was conducted in five municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Baixada Santista. A two-stage self-weighted probabilistic sample was used. Results estimated a prevalence of 26.3% for AH and of 8.8% for DM, AH being more prevalent among women. As to health care, 85.3% of the individuals with AH interviewed reported having had their arterial pressure checked, and 70.2% of those with DM reported having had their glucose blood serum level tested in the preceding six months. Drug treatment was prescribed to 99.4% of these patients, and 62.8% of AH patients purchased such drugs from private drugstores, and 57.9% of DM patients received drugs provided by health centers. Over 90% of the patients had no access to educational group activities, and 78% of AH and 92.5% of DM patients had no supervising home visits. These findings suggest the need for primary health care as the mainstay for the care provided to HA and DM.