RESUMO
A survey was conducted on a representative sample of 2400 users of primary health care in the city of Zagreb. A sampling procedure was used with stratification by age, (1) the younger age population (18 to 64 years) including early maturity, middle age and late maturity; (2) elderly (65 to 74 years); and (3) the extremely elderly population (74 to 94 years). The analysis of the data collected showed that the number of patients suffering from 2-3 diseases in the 18-64 year age group was 44.36%, 52.23% in the 65-74 age group, and 47.03% in the 74-94 age group. In the course of treatment, general practitioner referred 81.88% of those in the 18-64 year age group, only 11.03% of those aged 65-74 and 7.09% of those in the extremely elderly population to various specialists. Apart from the fact that younger population more often suffers from acute diseases and unclear conditions leading to higher demand for treatment by specialists, one has to accept that elderly people entrust their health protection mainly to general practitioners, and here is a great chance for primary health care to develop, through its institutions, programmes aiming at the health promotion and health protection.
