[Infectious diseases in primary care].

Objective: To find the frequency and seasonal variability of the infectious diseases detected over a year.

Design: Observational prospective study.

Setting: Primary care centre.

Patients: Simple multi-stage random sampling of the patients over 14 seen on demand at general medical clinics and the Casualty department between June 1991 and May 1992.

Measurements And Main Results: Out of 49,193 attendances during the study period, the attendance sample was 2,523, of which 474 (18.8%; CI: 17.3-20.3%) were for infectious conditions. Average age of these 474 was 39 (SD: 19.17); 55% were women. Frequency of respiratory infections was 64.1% (CI: 59.8-68.5%). The correlation coefficient between respiratory infections and the total number of infections was 0.94 (R2 = 0.89). The frequency of infections oscillated between 29% (CI: 23-35%) in February and 10% (CI: 5.8-14.5%) in May.

Conclusions: Infectious conditions account for a considerable percentage of the total number of primary care attendances. There is a seasonal variation in infections, which is mainly due to respiratory infections.