Why do patients seek family physicians' services for cold symptoms?

OBJECTIVE

To examine the frequency of presentation to family physicians' offices for cold symptoms, the reasons for presentation, and the duration of symptoms before presentation.

DESIGN

Prospective cross-sectional survey.

PARTICIPANTS

One hundred consecutive patient encounters in each of 15 family practices from January 27 to February 3, 1994, involving both academic and non-academic family physicians in the London region. Data were collected prospectively using a checklist attached to each chart.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Proportion of patients presenting with cold symptoms, reasons for presentation, number of days patients had had symptoms, billing code.

RESULTS

A total of 1421 checklists were analyzed, 822 from academic practices and 599 from community practices. Proportion of presentations for cold symptoms was 14.8%, but visits coded as common cold represented 5.7%. Median number of days patients waited before presentation was 7.0; older patients tended to wait longer. Many patients were worried about developing complications (51.0%) or were fed up with their symptoms (31.9%). Most patients were between the ages of 20 and 64 (44.6%), and 57.6% of all patients had developed complications requiring treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

The proportion of visits coded as common cold was lower than Ontario averages. Most patients had complications rather than simple colds and had managed their symptoms on their own for a fairly long time.