RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To find out whether the preventive measures proposed in the Preventive Measures and Health Promotion Programme (PMHPP) are a priority among youth with a low level of health service demand. DESIGN: Descriptive, retrospective study. SETTING: Primary Care Centre. PATIENTS: 378 patients (179 men and 199 women) making up a representative sample stratified by age and gender. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The particular page for recording PMHPP was found in only 13% of the medical records of the 15-24 age group (28.32% of the total sample). Tobacco and alcohol habits were tackled at the recommended intervals significantly less (p < 0.001) in people under 25 than in those over. Only 20% of the patients between 15 and 25 had both their weight and height recorded (39.1% in total). The 7-14 year-old group had an almost 60% correct immunisation against tetanus as against 24.56% for the rest (p < 0.001). In 66% of the records of women under 35 their immunity status against German Measles was not recorded. CONCLUSIONS: The PMHPP reaches least those who would most benefit from a preventive approach to problems such as tobacco, alcohol and overweight. We must focus our efforts on changing this situation: if not, the programme's effectiveness will continue to be limited.
