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In Spain, a national primary
care reform was implemented in stages, with the most deprived areas undergoing the reform
first. Within a 10-year period after the reform was started, those areas in which it was
implemented first had the largest decline in mortality rates associated with hypertension,
followed by those areas with somewhat later implementation, and then followed by areas
with late implementation. Hypertension-related conditions are known to be responsive to
primary care-level interventions. In contrast, deaths associated with perinatal causes,
which are responsive to specialty care (rather than primary care) intervention, declined
but in no particular pattern relative to the primary care reform. Source: Villalbi JR, Guarga A, Pasarin MI, Gil M, Borrell C, Ferran
M, et al. An evaluation of the impact of primary care reform on health. Aten Primaria
1999; 24(8):468-474. |
