Risk strata and quality of care for the elderly in Primary Health Care

OBJECTIVE: to identify patterns of associations between the degree of compliance to laboratory test requests by risk strata and the parameters of quality of care outcomes in primary health care (PHC). METHOD: a cross-sectional study involving 108 elderly patients with hypertension and/or diabetes treated in PHC. A semi-structured questionnaire and electronic medical record data were used. To evaluate the quality of care, the Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care (PACIC) questionnaire was used. Descriptive analysis, multiple correspondence analysis and k-means grouping were performed. RESULTS: it was observed low compliance of the care practice, standing out as the worst parameter the evaluation of the diabetic foot (2.2%). Three clusters were identified, with cluster 1 having the highest number of individuals (37.0%), with better indicators of quality of care, evidenced by above 50% of compliance with laboratory tests (75.0%), high PACIC score (47.2%), control of blood pressure (70.0%) and metabolic levels (95.0%), and satisfaction with health (92.5%) and health access (90.0%). In contrast, cluster 3 (29.6%) was made up of individuals with worse outcomes of care. CONCLUSION: low compliance of care practice and asymmetries among health actions and users’ needs were observed, indicating failures in the care process in PHC.