OBJECTIVE. This study aims to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of all the adult, immigrant population with individual health care card (IHCC) of a Health Center of a Madrid Community Area and the reasons for the most common consultations and diagnoses. DESIGN. This is an observational, descriptive study based on the recording of daily activity in the primary health care consultations of the Health Center "El Greco" from January 1998 to April 30, 2005. RESULTS. The sociodemographic variables, reason for consultation and number of visits were collected. Out of 2575 immigrants (13.83% of the total population of the center), 43% came from Spanish America, 28% from East Europe and 17% from North Africa. Distribution between men and women was almost 50% with mean age of 36.18 years of age. There was a total of 16560 consultations, 10583 made by women. Most frequent reasons for consultations were those related with the respiratory, locomotor and digestive apparatuses. Most frequent diagnoses were respiratory infection, abdominal pain and acute gastroenteritis. CONCLUSIONS. The center studied had an elevated percentage of immigrant population. The profile of the immigrant patient who consulted in the center is that of a young, Spanish-American woman who consults for health problems frequent in the general population. The Moroccan population was that with the most frequent visits. Knowing the characteristics of the immigrant population of the center will help us have an objective view of their needs.

Reason for encounter Demographic analysis immigrants

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