[Frequency of use of Primary Care and hospital services of the Andalusian Health Service by its user population with Down syndrome in 2022].

OBJECTIVE

Down Syndrome (DS) causes an increase in morbidity due to different organs and systems failures that, together with the increase in life expectancy, cause an increase in the use of health services. The aim of this study was to describe the use of Andalusian Health Service (AHS) resources by DS people in the year 2022.

METHODS

An observational, cross-sectional study, with quantitative methodology, of the use of health services of people with DS who used the AHS during the year 2022 was carried out.

RESULTS

The number of people with DS who used AHS during 2022 was 6,851 (8.2/10,000 AHS users); 49.8% of them were women. A total of 89,836 primary care consultations and 21,776 hospital outpatient consultations by DS were carried, which represents an average attendance per person with DS of 13.1 and 3.2 consultations, respectively. The most frequent outpatient consultations of people with DS were in Pediatrics (17.1%), Ophthalmology (11.4%) and Otorhinolaryngology (7.1%) specialities. During 2022, there were a total of 908 hospitalizations in people with DS (frequency of 13.3/100 users). The most frequent cause of admission were respiratory diseases.

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis of the frequentation of health services by people with DS provides relevant information for the planning of public health resources in terms of specialised training, multidisciplinary teams, design of protocols and referral circuits, as well as design of public policies.