PURPOSE: To improve health services it is necessary to know the demand profile. This study was carried out with the objectives of: to identify the main reasons to seek an ophthalmologic primary care service; and to analyze the frequency of the principal diagnoses, according to gender and age groups, as well as the causes of referring patients. METHODS: Retrospective and descriptive study of 1,010 assisted patients during a period of 6 months. Parameters: age and sex of the patient, the reason of the visit, diagnosis (ICD-10) and frequency of referral. The data were obtained through the analysis of the medical records and data-recording sheets with the ICD-10 registration. Some patients (male and female) presented with different morphological and structural alterations, and were allocated in more than one diagnostic group. RESULTS: There was a predominance of females (61.5%) in the age group from 10 to 19 years of age (16.7%) followed by the group of patients between 40 and 49 years of age (16.5%). The main reason for the consultation was a low visual acuity (37.4%), followed by the review of glasses (19.0%).There were also frequent complaints of headache (15.8%), pruritus (10.4%), burning / irritation (7.8%) and red eye (7.2%). Among abnormal tests the largest prevalence was of refractive errors (70.0%) and presbyopia (31.9%). Ninety patients (8.9%) were referred, mainly for surgical treatment. CONCLUSION: The main reason of the search of an Ophthalmology basic service was low visual acuity that in great majority of times was caused by refractive errors and / or presbyopia. Few were the cases which were not resolved at the service place.
Visual acuity; Vision disorders; Eye diseases; Eye health; Health care levels; Primary health care
