[Primary care research in the Valencia community. Original articles published over a 4-year period (1990-1993)].

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the quality of Primary Care (PC) research in the Community of Valencia through research articles.

DESIGN

Descriptive study.

SETTING

Primary Care in the community of Valencia.

PATIENTS AND OTHER PARTICIPANTS

Research articles on PC published 1990-1993 by professionals from the Community of Valencia in: Atención Primaria, Medicina Clínica, Revista Clínica Española and Gaceta Sanitaria.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

43 articles published between 1990 and 1993 (6, 6, 9 and 22, respectively) were obtained from the Medline and Indice Médico Español (Spanish Medical Index) bases. Characteristics of the study, authors and bibliographic references were analysed. The greatest number of studies were published in Atención Primaria (81%), making up consistently about 10% of the annual total of articles in this journal. A descriptive design and inferential statistical analysis (comparison of proportions) were mainly used. Average number of authors was 5.14 (C.I. 95%, 4.7 - 5.6). The participation of residents (39%) was greater than that of family doctors and below that of other specialists, suggesting a certain disenchantment with research. The collaboration of different centres (49%) was high, fundamentally Health Centres among themselves and with universities.

CONCLUSIONS

PC research in the Community of Valencia appears to be experiencing similar growth to that in the rest of Spain.